Harry Potter and the Resurrection Movement
by CPO Backstreet
Summary: Post-epilogue. Harry and his friends and the next generation of Hogwarts students all find themselves in danger when Voldemort's legacy is revealed.
1. Chapter 1: Great Expectations

CHAPTER ONE: Great Expectations

James Potter was bored.

He had never really considered the possibility of getting bored at Hogwarts. He had spent the first eleven years of his life dreaming of going there. When he had managed to persuade his parents, and his aunts and his uncles and their friends, to talk about their time at the school in unguarded moments, it had sounded like a place of magic and adventure. Well, it had magic. But not in the sense of being magical. The magic there was… well, schoolwork. At first, riding a broom, using a wand, transfiguration and the rest had been new and exciting. But now he was in his fourth year, the novelty was beginning to wear off. He was sure that if he told his Muggle neighbours all the things they were taught, they would be filled with envy. But as James had never been to any other school, he found the lessons just as tedious as they found Maths and Physics.

He knew he wasn't being fair. There were subjects and activities that he enjoyed: Flying lessons, the Duelling Club, Defence Against Dark Arts. But he longed for just a hint of the thrill and danger that his parents had known. Take Professor Slughorn, for instance. Stories were still told about his predecessor as both Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House and James had approached his lessons with a feeling of both dread and anticiption. But although Slughorn was rather vain and not above favouring his own students in Slytherin, he was hardly the menace that James had been expecting.

Things had become worse in his second year, when his brother Albus and cousin Rose had come to Hogwarts. James had had his hopes raised when his best friend Martin Longbottom's younger sister Emily had been sorted into Ravenclaw. But they were quickly dashed as the Sorting Hat sent both "Potter, Albus" and "Weasley, Rose" into Gryffindor with him. And this year, with his sister Lily and his youngest cousin Hugo also in Gryffindor, he couldn't move in the common room for relatives, all of whom seemed to have more enthusiasm for subjects than he did.

Sometimes, being a wizard wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

* * *

><p>If Harry Potter had been aware of his eldest son's thoughts, he might have agreed with him. When he had first heard about Aurors and dreamed of being one, he had expected it to be a thrilling and dangerous job, tracking down and defeating dangerous Dark Wizards. Well, he had tracked down a few dangerous Dark Wizards, who were now safely away in Azkaban. But he spent just as much time dealing with false alarms, with the almost weekly reports from people convinced that Voldemort was still alive and living on the same street as them and with checking everyone had the correct magic licenses. And paperwork, as the large pile he was currently working through in his office demonstrated.<p>

Harry checked the clock and breathed a sigh of relief as he realised it was time for him to escape his office and head to the Ministry canteen. "Quill down,"he ordered the quill that had been doing his writing for him and the implement obliged, settling down on his desk and waiting for further instructions.

After collecting his food, he found his friends Ron and Hermione Weasley and joined them at their table. Ron worked as his father's deputy in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department. Harry had heard murmured accusations of nepotism but he knew Ron deserved his job. He'd inherited his father's belief in defending the rights of those who were unable to protect themselves. As for Hermione, no-one would ever accuse her of owing her job to nepotism. She worked in the Ministry's Law department, casually switching between defending the accused and prosecuting cases depending on where her sense of justice felt the truth lay.

"Rose got an A in her Herbology test,"she remarked as Harry sat, a strong note of pride in her voice.

"Albus got a C,"Harry supplied, equally proud.

Ron shook his head in mock disappointment. "You need to buy Neville better Christmas presents, Harry. Then he might raise his mark."

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him. "I don't think Neville would give Rose a good mark just because we're friends with him."

Ron gave a slight smile at her predictable indignation. "So, is my sister ready for us tonight?" he asked Harry.

Harry nodded. "Ginny knows you're coming round."

"We would have you round,"Hermione interjected,"but…"

"But the greatest witch of her generation is the only person I know whose cooking is worse than mine," Ron concluded.

Hermione scowled at him, causing Harry and Ron to laugh. She relaxed and gave a reluctant smile. "I swear you two haven't got any better since we were all at school together."

And Harry remembered that there were worse places to be than working in the same building as his two best friends.

* * *

><p>James headed into the Great Hall with Martin for lunch. Emily waved at them from the Ravenclaw table and James waved back while Martin pretended he hadn't seen. The attractive, blonde-haired Emily was so different from her ordinary-looking dark-haired brother it was hard to imagine they were siblings. The pair's father, Neville, the Head of Gryffindor House, watched them from the teachers' table but knew better than to attempt to get a wave out of them.<p>

James winced slightly as he realised the only free seats were near Albus and Rose. At least Lily and Hugo were up the other end of the table, chatting animatedly with their friends. They'd probably just turned matches into needles for the first time or something.

Rose had her head down, engrossed in one of her History of Magic textbooks. James snatched it up. "Anything interesting?"

"James, I was reading that,"Rose protested in annoyance.

"What, this?"James held the book above his head, so Rose couldn't reach it.

"Give it to her back, James,"Albus warned him.

Instead of listening to his brother, James threw the book to Martin. Rose went to retrieve it and Martin threw the book back to him.

"James Potter! Martin Longbottom!" The voice of Professor McGonagall, the headmistress, rang across the hall as she strode towards them. "Will you please give Miss Weaseley her textbook back?" Reluctantly James did as instructed. McGonagall fixed him with a steely glare. "As you should know by now, behaviour of that sort is not tolerated at Hogwarts. Ten points from Gryffindor." She looked at Neville. "Apologies, Professor Longbottom."

Neville was looking at James and Martin with a disappointment that made James feel ashamed. "It's okay, Professor McGonagall. The boys deserved the punishment."

"Nice one, James,"Albus muttered. "How many more points are you going to lose us?"

As he sat down with his lunch, James found himself enjoying life at Hogwarts less and less.

* * *

><p>Harry led Ron and Hermione through the door of Grimmauld Place. "Ginny!"he called out.<p>

Ginny came through from the kitchen. "Harry!" She gave him a brief kiss of welcome before hugging her brother and sister-in-law. "We were worried you were going to be late. Kreacher's been slaving away all afternoon."

Kreacher came hobbling through from the kitchen. Given that he had been at the house since Harry's father was a boy, the house elf was extremely elderly by now but still insisted on doing whatever jobs he was capable of. "Welcome home, Master Potter,"he croaked. "Welcome, Mister Weasley, Madame Weasley."

Hermione crouched by him and gave him a hug. "Hello, Kreacher."

Kreacher scowled at the gesture, as he always did, even though Harry had realised many years previous that he secretly enjoyed Hermione's attention. "Kreacher, we would like dinner in fifteen minutes, please,"he told him.

"Yes, Master Potter. Dinner will be on the table in fifteen minutes. Then it's up to you to eat it before it gets cold and all Kreacher's work is ruined." Kreacher hobbled into the kitchen.

"I swear he hasn't mellowed with age,"Ron muttered.

"Ron, how can you say that?"Hermione protested. "He's positively sweet these days!"

"I guess we have different ideas about sweet."

"Well, I know the children love him,"Ginny replied. "And I think he loves them too. He's less cantankerous when they're around."

"We'd better get our guests some drinks,"Harry decided, putting an arm round his wife's shoulder and leading the way into the front room. "How was your day at St. Mungo's?"

"Quiet thankfully,"Ginny replied. "Have you heard Albus' test results?"

"Yeah, he did well."

"Rose got an A,"Hermione interjected.

"It's lucky she got your brains,"Ginny commented.

Ron gave Harry an amused look. "Ever get the feeling people are ganging up on you?"

"Have you heard how James is getting on?"Hermione asked.

Ginny looked at Harry. He looked down at his feet, as uncomfortable as her. "We haven't heard much from him,"she admitted.

* * *

><p>James wandered despondently through the school corridor. He had been planning to spend the evening letting off some of the magical fireworks that he'd bought from his uncle George's shop, hiding and giggling as his classmates ran shrieking from the light balls streaking up and down the corridors. But he was beginning to realise he and Martin were getting a reputation as troublemakers. He didn't want people to think of him like that but he was just desperate for some sort of amusement.<p>

He heard voices up ahead of him and some instinct caused him to stop and duck out of sight round a corner. A few moments later, McGonagall came into view, in conversation with Neville, Hagrid and Professor Flitwick. "The last thing I want is for the students to be concerned,"she was saying.

"Are you sure it wasn't the students?"Neville asked. "They have been known to be out of their rooms after hours."

"Well, I've checked with my house as you have with yours,"Flitwick reminded him. "The other houses too. We're confident that no-one has left their dormitories unauthorised."

"Could still be students,"Hagrid interjected. "Some of them know a hundred different ways to get out of their dormitories without being seen."

"Mr. Filch was quite clear on the matter,"McGonagall replied. "He saw a number of robed figures leaving the school and apparating once they were out of the grounds. He is certain from their builds that they are not students and I don't believe Mr. Filch would avoid blaming the students if he could help it. The implication is clear. There have been intruders in Hogwarts."

James felt a broad smile stretch across his face. Perhaps this year at Hogwarts could be an interesting one after all.


	2. Chapter 2: Ordinary Lives

**Thanks for everyone who wrote a review and added this to their story alerts. I don't know how often I'll be able to update this but don't worry, updates will come.**

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><p>CHAPTER TWO:Ordinary Lives<p>

James had expected Martin, Rose and Albus to be as excited as him when he told them about the conversation at breakfast the next morning. But he was disappointed to find none of them actually seemed to care. "Are you sure there were actually intruders in Hogwarts?" Martin asked. "I mean, robed figures hanging around near the school? They might just have been from Hogsmeade and been wrapping up because of the warm."

Rose nodded in agreement. "There's bound to be a logical explanation for it all."

"They were in the school,"James insisted. "I heard the teachers say so. I think…" He looked around cautiously, making sure no-one was listening. "I think it might be You Know Who."

Martin rolled his eyes. "Come on, everyone knows You Know Who was killed years ago."

"It does seem very unlikely,"Rose agreed.

Albus had remained silent throughout most of the conversation but now he finally spoke. "It could be true."

Rose looked at him, disappointed. "Albus!"

"I don't mean _him_ but… There are still Dark Wizards out there. Maybe there's someone new."

Rose shook her head. "Nothing like that would happen now, those days are over."

Albus shrugged. "I just think there might be something in it."

James hadn't expected his younger brother's support but he was more than happy to accept it now it was offered. "Right! We should look into it."

"Look into what?"Martin asked. "The fact that robed figures were seen near Hogwarts? How do you suppose we do that?"

James floundered. He hadn't actually thought as far ahead as coming up with a plan. "I don't know,"he admitted. "But I think we should keep our eyes and ears open."

* * *

><p>Harry finished putting on his work robes and headed downstairs to where Ginny was chatting with Hermione. Their animated conversation stopped as soon as he entered the room. "I can stay at home if you want,"he offered.<p>

"We're having a girls' day,"Ginny reminded him. "You don't qualify."

"And if you see Ron, tell him not to send a Patronus after me,"Hermione added. "I'll be home in my own time and he can manage to magic up his tea himself."

"Okay, I'll see you later." Harry gave Ginny a quick kiss goodbye and headed out the front door, nearly colliding with Luna, who was standing on the steps.

"Hello, Harry,"she greeted him. "I'm glad to see your aura is looking healthy today."

"Er, thanks, Luna,"Harry answered. Even after twenty years, he still didn't quite know how to reply to some of her comments. "Ginny and Hermione are through there. I'll be back later."

"I'm glad to see your aura is looking healthy today?"Ginny repeated once Harry had gone.

"He expects me to say things like that. He'd be disappointed if I didn't."

Kreacher came shuffling in. "Do Mistress Potter and her friends need drinks?"

"No, thank you, Kreacher,"Ginny replied. "We'll be going out shortly."

"Very well. Then Kreacher will do some cleaning. Kreacher does much cleaning. Young Potters leave much to clean." His voice disappeared upstairs.

"I think your house elf may have been replaced with a changeling again," Luna whispered confidentially.

"Okay, shopping,"Hermione decided. "I've seen some great dress robes I want to buy."

"I was hoping to get some Bumblelion Lotion,"Luna mused. "It's a shame it's only available when there's a K in the month."

Ginny did a quick mental check. "There aren't any months with K in them."

Luna nodded sadly. "It can be very difficult."

* * *

><p>James was glad of the Quidditch match scheduled for that weekend. It had been two days since he had overheard the teachers' conversation and since then… well, nothing. Life had continued so normally that he was beginning to suspect Rose was right and the incident had been nothing. So it was good for a distraction.<p>

Since both his parents and most of his uncles had been members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (his infamously bookish Uncle Percy being the only exception), James had been quick to try out and, although he'd been rejected in his first year, he had been accepted in his second. He'd hoped to get his father's old position as Seeker but the team captain, Damon Willis, had made him and Martin the Beaters, the position once held by James' Uncle George and his late twin brother Fred.

Albus had been accepted into the team in his second year. He'd been made Seeker, of course.

James noticed the Ravenclaw lineup was the same as the previous year. Their captain, Kamal Salis, shook hands with Damon Willis, then the referee threw the Quaffle in the air to signal the start of the match.

James and Martin sprang to their allotted task, knocking the Bludgers that were flying around the pitch away from their team's players. The three Chasers of each team began competing for the Quaffle. Emily, who was one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, got to it first and bore down on the Gryffindor goalposts. James spied a Bludger flying in his direction and prepared to knock it at Emily. At the last moment, he hesitated, instead aiming it at the Quaffle to try and deflect its course.

James missed and the Quaffle sailed straight past Damon in the Gryffindor goal, signalling a goal to Ravenclaw.

"Don't be a gentleman, James!" Martin called. "Pretend it's _your_ sister!"

James had a memory flash of the previous summer when Lily had "borrowed" his wand to try and turn her goldfish into a hamster. He tried to keep the image in his head.

Rose, Lily and Hugo, sat near the front of the Gryffindor supporters, looked round at Neville, who was loudly applauding his daughter's goal. "Why are you applauding, Professor Longbottom?" Lily asked. "That was a Ravenclaw goal."

Neville stopped and looked slightly self-conscious. "Well, you have to applaud family."

James was having a hard time keeping track of where everyone was. He could see Albus and the Ravenclaw Seeker, Li Corner, hovering about below him as they looked for the snitch. He saw the Chasers competing for the Quaffle as goal after goal was scored. One of the Bludgers was heading for Timothy Wood, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, who was bearing down on goal. James knocked it away from him as Timothy unleashed the ball, easily beating the Ravenclaw Keeper Mary Brown.

James looked back at Albus and saw his brother's broom suddenly shoot to the left and turn, Albus' left hand reaching out as he ended up at a right angle, horizontal with the ground. James saw a tiny object drop into Albus' hand and realised it was the snitch. For a moment he thought Albus was going to fall off his broom but somehow he managed to complete the 360° turn and came up grinning, the snitch held aloft.

The Gryffindor supporters went wild with cheers… and then suddenly the noise stopped. Silence reigned across the entire playing field.

James, like everyone else present, focused his attention on one spot in the distance. Hovering above the Forbidden Forest was Voldemort's Death Mark.


	3. Chapter 3: The Death Mark

**Thank you again for the reviews. I noticed some confusion expressed that this story doesn't seem to be about what the summary implied it would be about. Well, without giving too much away, this is going to be a fairly long story (it's currently planned to be twenty chapters) and there are going to be things happening in the second half that may not be immediately obvious from the first two chapters.**

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><p>CHAPTER THREE:The Death Mark<p>

It had been a long time since Harry had set foot in Hogwarts but as soon as the Ministry heard the report about the Death Mark he had insisted on heading up the investigation, sending Aurors into the woods to try and find the cause of it.

When Harry arrived at the school, he was met by McGonagall and her Heads of House. Harry knew all of them. Flitwick and Slughorn had held their positions since Harry was a student there. The other two Heads, Neville and Ernie Macmillan, had both been at school with Harry. Ernie had taken over McGonagall's old position as Transfiguration teacher as well as being Head of Hufflepuff.

"We've searched the Forbidden Forest,"he told them all. "We didn't find a body. Nor did we find any trace of a Killing Curse or any other spell that could result in death being cast there."

"But there was a Death Mark above the forest,"Flitwick protested. "We all saw it." The other teachers nodded in agreement.

"Yes, we found the trace of that spell,"Harry confirmed. "But no others."

"Do you have any idea who could have cast the spell?"McGonagall asked.

"It may simply have been a student prank,"Harry suggested.

McGonagall seemed slightly affronted by the remark. "I hope that no student at Hogwarts would play a prank in such poor taste."

Harry looked at Slughorn. "Can you think of any students who might do such a thing, Professor? One of your house, perhaps?"

Slughorn looked even more affronted than McGonagall. "I realise Slytherin has a reputation for producing Death Eaters, Harry, but I do not believe any of my students were responsible for this."

"I'm sorry, Professor." Harry was aware that old prejudices died hard. "Well, can any of you think of anyone who might think this was funny?" He was met by a series of head shakes.

"What about the intruders we reported a few days ago?"Ernie asked. "Do you think there's any connection with that?"

"Possibly,"Harry admitted. "We'll look into it. But I think we've found all we're going to find here. We'll be in touch."

As Harry went to leave, Neville came to the door with him. "Are you sure we've got nothing to worry about, Harry? I mean, a Death Mark, that's a pretty worrying thing to see. Haven't seen one in twenty years."

"It's fine, Neville,"Harry assured him. "We get false alarms like this all the time, wannabe Dark Wizards messing about. It'll be nothing."

Neville gave him a trusting look and smiled with relief. "Thanks, Harry. If you think it's nothing, so do I."

* * *

><p>Harry hadn't been planning to speak with any of his children during his visit to Hogwarts. He was eager to get back to the Ministry once the investigation was complete. But as he was leaving the staff room and heading towards the exit, knowing he'd have to leave the grounds before he could Apparate, he heard running footsteps and James appeared beside him, out of breath. "Dad! What are you doing here? Is it to do with the Death Mark?"<p>

Harry tried to hide his irritation at the interruption, giving his son a reassuring smile. "It's okay, it was all a misunderstanding."

"Do you know who cast it?"

"No,"Harry admitted. "But we know no-one's been killed."

"Was it anything to do with the intruders?"

Harry looked at him sharply. "How do you know about that?"

James' reaction was that of someone caught out in some naughtiness. "I… I overheard the teachers talking about it."

"You shouldn't really have been listening." Harry tried to say the admonishment gently but he had a feeling it came out harsher than he'd intended. "Don't worry about it, James. There's nothing untoward going on in Hogwarts. Just someone playing a rather tasteless joke."

James seemed torn between relief and disappointment. "You're sure?"

"Quite sure."

* * *

><p>"But how can you be sure?" Hermione argued when Harry told her and Ron about the incident back at the Ministry.<p>

Harry sighed. He'd expected James to attach undue importance to the incident but Hermione should know better. "We did a thorough investigation and…"

"…and you didn't find a body." Hermione had already heard Harry's explanation. "But you haven't found out who cast the Death Mark either."

"Hermione, I can't look into every Death Mark that someone happens to cast in the sky."

"And when did you last see a Death Mark?"Hermione retorted.

"It's been over ten years,"Harry admitted. "The last time was when we cleared out that Death Eater cell in Venezuela."

"So you don't think this is unusual, Harry? Remember the first time we saw a Death Mark? The Quiddith World Cup?"

Harry remembered the incident well. Barty Crouch Junior. The Death Eater who played a key role in Voldemort's resurrection. He had cast the mark to announce his presence and show people Voldemort was still around. Harry pushed the memory to the back of his mind. "He's not coming back, Hermione. Not this time."

"I know that, Harry. But I still think you need to find out who cast it."

Harry looked at Ron for support but Ron just shrugged. "She's got a point, Harry. I mean, this is a Death Mark. You know what that stands for. This isn't just a harmless prank, whoever did it must see You Know Who as a hero or believe the same things he did. And there's still Death Eaters out there, remember?"

It was another thing that Harry tried to forget. Many of Voldemort's followers had fled his service before, during and after the last battle, the survivors too battle weary and too relieved they were still alive to pursue them. It galled him to think that so many of the people who'd spent his teenage years trying to kill him and his friends were still out there, unpunished. His first few years as an Auror he'd been passionate about seeking them down but eventually it was something he'd had to accept.

"It's nothing,"he insisted angrily. "It doesn't mean anything and nothing's going to happen. We just need to forget about it."

* * *

><p>"So what did Uncle Harry say exactly?"Rose asked when she, James, Martin and Albus were gathered in the Gryffindor common room.<p>

James hesitated. He had been so sure that something was going on and he still felt that he was right. But he knew he had to tell them the truth. "He said it was nothing. Just someone's idea of a joke."

Rose gave a triumphant smile. "There you are then. I told you."

"Yeah but…" James struggled to convince them he was right. "I still think we should keep an eye out. For whoever cast that mark. Maybe… maybe one of the other students is planning to revive the Death Eaters. Or one of the teachers!"

"If Dad said there's nothing going on, then I guess there's nothing going on,"Albus replied.

James looked at him, disappointed. "Come on, Albus, Dad makes mistakes, you know that. So do the Auror office. We should keep investigating this."

"Investigating what, James?" Martin asked. "You keep saying we should investigate but you never have any ideas about what we should do. Face it, mate, it's all a big load of nothing."

James looked at each of their faces in turn but saw no support from any of them. "Fine,"he retorted at last. "But don't blame me if something does happen."

* * *

><p>Harry was late home after finishing up his report on the incident at Hogwarts. He arrived in the front hallway, noticing Ginny's coat hung up on the end of the stairs. "Ginny, are you here?"he called. "Sorry, I'm late, there was an incident at Hogwarts. Not really worth bothering about. I tried to contact you on the Floo Network but you must have been out."<p>

He received no response.

"Ginny?"he asked again as he went through to the front room.

What he saw there made him stop breathing for a moment from the shock. Ginny lay face upwards on the floor, her eyes unseeing. Harry rushed to her side, feeling her cold skin, hoping against hope that he was wrong. But there was nothing he could do. Her body was completely unmarked. And completely dead.


	4. Chapter 4: Regrets

CHAPTER FOUR: Regrets

Harry felt Lily burying her tear streaked face in his coat and put his arm around her without looking down. James and Albus were standing next to her, both refusing to cry, sharing their father's stoic reaction as the coffin was laid in the ground.

A lot of people had elected to speak at Ginny's funeral: Her father Arthur, her brothers Ron and George. Harry himself had managed a few words but there was too much to say for him to fit it all into a nice neat speech. He thought about all the years he'd known her. That first glimpse of her as he'd boarded the train to Hogwarts. That moment in the Chamber of Secrets when it had been just the two of them, bruised and drained by their encounter with the fragment of Tom Riddle's soul, seeing the other as a person for the first time. Their first kiss. The first time they'd made love, in a quiet dormitory at Hogwarts after Voldemort's downfall, the castle's other occupants willing to exercise discretion after everything they'd all been through. The years of peace that had followed: Their marriage, the births of their children.

He'd expected there to be more. For them to see their children grow up, have grandchildren, grow old together. Now it was not to be.

They stood in the Weasley family plot, surrounded by the graves of generations of the family. Harry glanced around at the other mourners. He could hear the sobbing of Ginny's mother Molly as her husband comforted her. Ginny's brothers Percy, Charles and George. Her oldest brother Bill with his wife Fleur and daughter Victoire. Ron and Hermione. Neville, Luna and other old friends. Only Rose and Hugo were absent. They were still at Hogwarts, their parents unwilling to put them through the trauma of their aunt's funeral.

As the coffin was interred and the party began to break up, Harry had a sinking feeling. He'd invited everyone to come back to Grimmauld Place after the funeral, it had seemed the right thing to do. But now that the moment came he was dreading it. He just wanted to be left alone.

Luna detached herself from the crowd and came over to him. Sensing she wanted to say something in private, Harry gestured for his children to walk with Ron and Hermione.

Luna looked at him seriously. "Harry, a lot of people are going to be asking you how you are and if there's anything they can do to help. And you're going to find that annoying because you feel very sad and there's nothing anyone can do to change that. So you just need to remember that they're only doing it because they like you."

Harry smiled at her. "That's probably very good advice." He offered her his arm and they walked out of the churchyard together.

* * *

><p>Harry had kept Luna's words in mind and the wake hadn't felt so bad. Finally most of the mourners had left and only a small party were left in the back garden of the house: Harry,James, Albus and Lily, plus Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna.. Harry's four friends had all been regular visitors to the house so it was right they should be there for the day's second funeral.<p>

They had found Kreacher dead in the kitchen when they had searched the house after finding Ginny. Whoever had considered the life of a wife and mother no consequence had obviously had even less respect for the life of a house elf.

Harry stood next to the simple grave he'd constructed and addressed his friends and children. "Kreacher was a loyal servant to the House of Black for many years. And after that, he was an even more loyal servant to the House of Potter. He would always have pretended that he wasn't, that he served us out of duty. But I think the fact that he died protecting his mistress says more about him than anything I could say here."

* * *

><p>Harry had thought everyone was gone so he was surprised when Hermione suddenly came into his study. "You're not here on your own?"she asked in surprise. "What about the children?"<p>

"They're going back to Hogwarts in the morning, Molly's looking after them tonight." Although he appreciated she was just trying to be a friend to him, somehow he found her presence uncomfortable. He was trying his best to be strong yet Hermione always had a way of seeing when it was just an act. "You should go. Ron needs you. Ginny was his sister."

"Ron's got his brothers,"Hermione replied. "They've gone for a drink together to remember her. _You_ need me, Harry." Her voice was soft and kindly. "It's all right to be upset."

Harry shook his head. "I don't want to be upset. I want to be angry. How could they do this to her? Why would anyone do this? She hadn't done anything to anyone. And now…"

Hermione put her arms around him and hugged him. And even though it made him feel less angry, he didn't do anything to stop her.

They were interrupted by a tapping at the window. Harry extricated himself from Hermione's grasp and opened the window, letting an owl in. He took the letter it was holding in its beak and opened it. "It's from the Ministry,"he told Hermione. "They want me there at once."

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><p>Harry took the Floo Network to the Ministry where he was shown into the office of Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic. Kingsley's face was grave. "I heard it was Ginny's funeral today, Harry. I'm sorry I couldn't attend."<p>

"Thank you, sir. But if you don't mind, I'd rather we got on to why I'm here."

Kingsley nodded. "I thought you would want to know as soon as possible. We received the report from the Aurors who investigated your home. It confirms that both Ginny and Kreacher were killed with the Avada Kedavra Curse. They were murdered, Harry."

Harry made no reaction. It was only what he'd expected. "Do they have any idea who did it?"

"The wand used doesn't match that of any known Dark Wizard. Our current theory is that the murderer abandoned his or her registered wand and acquired another one somehow."

"Do we know when it was used?"

"Approximately three o'clock on the afternoon of the day you found her body." Kingsley noticed the flicker of a reaction in Harry's eyes. "Is something wrong, Harry?"

Harry tried his best not to give away his distress as he explained. "That was the time the Death Mark appeared."


	5. Chapter 5: A Trail of Clues

**Thank you for the reviews, alerts and favourites. And Merry Christmas to anywhere where it's Christmas or will soon be Christmas or, like here, will be Christmas in less than an hour.**

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><p>CHAPTER FIVE: A Trail of Clues<p>

Harry had arranged for the Floo Network to link his house to Hogwarts for the children's return. Normally, access to the school was tightly controlled but he had enough of a history with Professor McGonagall to be allowed certain leeway. The Hogwarts Express wasn't going to make an extra trip for three students and Harry was too anxious to get into work at the Ministry to take them himself.

Lily was hanging onto him as though afraid he'd disappear as well if she let go. Harry gently prised her grip apart and placed her hand in James'. "Look after her, will you?"he asked him. "I'm relying on you to be the responsible one."

James nodded. "Of course, Dad."

Harry gave his eldest son an awkward pat on the shoulder and a brief smile before turning to Albus. "You'll be okay, right? Everyone at Hogwarts knows what's happened, they'll keep an eye on you."

"Of course, Dad,"Albus replied, sounding surprisingly like his older brother.

Harry gave Albus a brief hug before ushering the three children into the fireplace. James took a handful of floo powder. "Hogwarts,"he ordered and they all disappeared.

As soon as they were gone, Harry stepped into the fireplace himself. "Department of Magical Law Enforcement, records room."

* * *

><p>The third year Gryffindors had Potions first thing, along with the Slytherins. Normally it was a subject that Rose excelled at but the last few days, since the news of Auntie Ginny's death had reached them, she'd found it hard to concentrate on anything. At least Albus was back in the class with her now, so she had someone to share her misery with.<p>

Professor Slughorn had set them what would normally be a fairly simple task, manufacturing a healing potion. Rose had done her best to follow the instructions, adding the ingredients at the right time and in the right quantities, heating and stirring it and then casting the correct spell. But somehow her mind seemed to have wandered because instead of the shining golden fluid that she should have produced, she had ended up with a thick black goo that seemed more likely to make someone ill than cure them.

Slughorn was doing his rounds inspecting the class' work and stopped next to her. "Oh dear, Rose, not up to your usual standards,"he remarked kindly. "But I think in the circumstances we can make allowances."

Somehow his kindness was more upsetting than if he'd shouted at her. Rose burst into tears.

Slughorn put an arm round her awkwardly. "Now, now, Rose. You remind me so much of your mother. She never took failure very well either."

"Good job she doesn't take after her aunt,"sneered Apollo Zabini, one of the Slytherin boys, rather cruelly.

Albus instantly squared up to him, despite being several inches shorter. "Don't you dare talk about my family like that!"

"Oh, hark at Potter. Gonna challenge me to a duel, are you?"

"That is enough!"Slughorn snapped, storming over to the pair. "Albus, I am responsible for restoring order in this class and, Apollo, if I hear you making a remark as disgraceful as that again…"

Rose didn't wait to hear the rest of the tirade, it was all too much for her. She ran from the classroom. She made it a few paces down the corridor before collapsing onto a set of steps and sat there, wiping the tears from her eyes.

A shadow fell over her and she realised someone had followed her out. At first she thought it was Albus but when she looked up she saw it was Scorpius Malfoy.

"Are you all right?"he asked.

Rose sniffed. "What do you care? Are you going to make fun of me like your friend?"

"Apollo's an idiot,"Scorpius replied as he sat down next to her. "What he said was wrong. I'm sorry you're upset."

Rose managed a smile. "Well, I'd probably be upset anyway. Aunt Ginny was always so kind to us, I… I just don't understand it."

Scorpius touched her shoulder gently. "It's okay to be upset, everyone understands."

"What have you said to her?"demanded an angry voice as James came storming down the corridor towards them. "Don't you think our family's got enough to deal with without you Slytherins twisting the knife?"

Scorpius didn't reply. Instead he got up and looked down at Rose. "I'll see you later,"he told her before heading back into the classroom.

Rose waited until he had gone before getting up and looking at James angrily. "James, you idiot, he was being nice to me! Why did you have to go and say all that for?" She stormed back into class.

* * *

><p>James headed out into the courtyard and collapsed into a seat next to a tree. He didn't know why he bothered. Even when he tried to be responsible, he seemed to end up in the wrong. Maybe he had been a bit premature in shouting at the Slytherin boy but how was he to know he hadn't been the one who upset Rose?<p>

James didn't realise someone had sat down next to him until he felt a soft, female hand grasp his. He looked round to find Emily sitting there, smiling sympathetically. "Are you all right?"she asked.

James gave an ironic laugh. "You know, I think you're the first person to ask me that. They ask if Lily's all right and they ask if Albus is all right but I'm supposed to be the eldest, they just assume I can handle it. But she was my mum too. She was my mum." He felt tears starting to form in his eyes and blinked to get rid of them.

"It's okay to be upset,"Emily told him.

"I don't even know when I last spoke to her,"James admitted. "I don't think I sent her a message since the last holidays. I wish… I just wish I'd known, we had this horrible fight last time we were all at home, her and Dad were disappointed with my school report, how it said I was always mucking about…" He looked at Emily intensely. "I'm going to find out who did this, Emily. I'm going to find them. And I'm going to make them pay."

* * *

><p>Hermione stepped cautiously into the research office. Harry was sat at one of the desks, surrounded by piles of papers, looking increasingly frantic as he searched through them. "Harry, what are you doing?"she asked.<p>

"It's all here, Hermione,"he snapped. "Missing person reports. Death Eater sightings. There's a whole trail of evidence if only I can find it."

Hermione glanced at a few of the pieces of paper. "Harry, some of these are going back years."

"Well, maybe this has been going on for years! How would I know? I'm the Auror who told everyone there was nothing to be worried about while his wife was being murdered. Who let another Death Eater cell grow up right under his nose!"

Hermione gripped his hand hard, forcing him to stop and calm down. "Harry, what's this all about?"

Harry gave her an anguished look. "I'm as bad as them, Hermione."

She looked at him in confusion. "Who? The Death Eaters?"

"No, Fudge and the others. Twenty years ago, I told the Ministry that Voldemort was back. And they wouldn't believe it. They ignored me, they ignored the evidence. Because they were too scared to admit it might be true. And I thought… how could they do that? How could they be such cowards that they put people in danger rather than admit the truth? But I know now because I've done the same. Every piece of evidence that something's going on, I've ignored. I even ignored a Death Mark! The sign of Voldemort's followers. Because I didn't want to believe it might be starting again."

Hermione stared at him in silence for a moment, worried by the implications of his intensity. "Do you really think Voldemort's back?"

"Either he is or someone's trying to pick up where he left off. I need to go through every case I wrote off, look at it again, see if there's any clue as to what's going on."

Hermione pulled up a chair and sat down at the desk with him. "I'll help you."

"What about your own work?"

"Law Division can do without me for a bit, I'll get Susan Bones to substitute. You were never much good at research without my help anyway." She gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Harry. If there's any evidence here, we'll find it."


	6. Chapter 6: The Forest of Secrets

CHAPTER SIX: The Forest of Clues

"Got a real treat for you here today,"Hagrid declared as he led the party of third year Gryffindors and Slytherins that comprised his Care of Magical Creatures class through the Forbidden Forest. "One to tell yer mates about over supper tonight, hey?"

The students remained silent and nervous. Anything with a name like the Forbidden Forest was bound to acquire a certain reputation but with the recent goings on in the area, the younger students in particular were giving the area a wide berth.

Rose was walking with Scorpius, the two of them chatting away. Albus eyed them cautiously. Ever since that day Rose had run out of the Potions class, she seemed to be spending a lot of time with Scorpius, a fact that had been met with bemusement by most students. Inter-house friendships were pretty rare at Hogwarts, mainly because the Sorting Hat tended to place people with similar personality traits in the same house, and between the traditional rivals of Gryffindor and Slytherin they were even rarer. Albus had seen the improvement in his cousin's mood since they became friends however, so he'd said nothing about it and advised everyone he spoke to to do the same.

Hagrid led them into a clearing where they found a trio of large winged horses. "Abraxans!" Hagrid declared with relish. "These beauties are among the few currently living in this country. Very hard to train. No good coaxing them, you got to be strong with them or they won't respect you. Now, this lot have all been specially bred by my friend Madame Maxime so they're not likely to bite your hand off like the really wild ones do. But they're still stubborn little brutes and they're not going to respond to you if you don't show 'em who's boss. Right, I want three pairs, one for each horse. Any volunteers?"

Albus looked around and noticed everyone else seemed to be backing away nervously. He nudged Owen Spink, one of the boys he shared a dormitory with. "We'll do it, Hagrid."

Hagrid smiled. "Good boy, Albus. Anyone else?"

Rose looked at Scorpius then stuck her hand up. "We'll do it."

A couple of the girls volunteered for the third horse and all three pairs took up their place. "Right, I want one of each pair to sit on your Abraxan,"Hagrid told them. "If you can't get them to let you do that, then they're obviously not gonna be in a good mood today."

Albus helped Owen up onto the Abraxan's back, noticing Scorpius doing the same for Rose. "What now?"he asked.

"Well, those of you who are left standing, you're gonna have to face down the Abraxan. Look 'em right in the eyes and make it clear to 'em that you're not gonna take any nonsense from 'em. If they take a step back, that means you've won their respect. When you've done that, jump onto their back with your friend."

Albus stared hard into his Abraxan's eyes, unblinking. Scorpius was trying to do the same but kept breaking eye contact to smile at Rose. Albus saw his Abraxan take a step back and climbed onto its back, Owen helping him up.

"Good, Albus, now fly!"Hagrid shouted.

Albus made to pull back on the Abraxan's reins but before he could do so there was a commotion and two dishevelled figures came running into the clearing. One of them was Timothy Wood, the sixth year who played alongside Albus in the house Quidditch team. The other one he recognised as Helena Amos, Timothy's girlfriend from Hufflepuff who was also in the sixth year.

"This wood's out of bounds for unaccompanied students!"Hagrid bellowed at them. "What are you doing here?"

Albus tried hard not to smile. With the woods currently all but deserted, it was obvious that the pair had decided to use them for some privacy. But his smile faded when he saw that not only were the pair covered in cuts and bruises but there were looks of fear and shock on both their faces.

"We don't know,"Timothy stammered.

Hagrid hurried over to the pair, putting a large arm round each of their shoulders to support them. "Albus, run back to the school. Tell Professor McGonagall what's happened."

* * *

><p>Harry checked over the large stacks of paper that remained on his desk. Although he and Hermione had managed to reduce their quantity somewhat, he still had a lot to sort through. Ron appeared in the doorway, hovering there uncertainly. "How's it going?"he asked.<p>

Harry shrugged. "Well, we've decided some of the reports didn't have any substance. The one about Walden Macnair running a candy store, for instance. But I've still got to try and get this lot into some semblance of order."

"Look, Harry, I want to find the person that killed Ginny as much as you but do you really think you're going to find out anything like this?"

"It's all I've got for the moment."

"And there's…what? A gang of Death Eaters behind it all?"

"Think about it, Ron. At the same time Ginny was killed, someone cast a Death Mark. No-one could have Apparated there in that time. Either it's all a coincidence or we've got at least two Dark Wizards working together."

"You're starting to worry me."

"I'm starting to worry myself."

Hermione came running in. "Harry, something else has happened at Hogwarts."

* * *

><p>Harry stood with McGonagall near the entrance of the hospital wing, as Timothy and Helena were treated by the healers. "Can I talk to them?"he asked.<p>

"Once the healers have cleared them,"McGonagall replied. "But I'm afraid Harry that there is little they can tell you. Both their wands have been used and the spells detected indicate some sort of struggle. They were both hit with multiple stunning charms, then the incident wiped from their minds with a Memory Charm. They remember nothing between going to the woods for a romantic tryst and running into Professor Hagrid's class."

"It sounds as though they stumbled across something going on in the woods,"Harry realised.

"Like who?"

"Whoever cast that Death Mark? Or the intruders you saw in Hogwarts? Unless they're all the same."

"We will do our best to learn what we can from them."

"And I'll hang around for a bit, see what else I can find."

Harry went out into the corridor where he found James waiting for him. "What's going on, Dad?"James asked. "Albus said two of the older students were attacked."

Harry hesitated. He was reluctant to lie to his oldest son but reluctant to involve him as well. "It looks like it."

"Do you think it's anything to do with what happened to Mum?"

"It's possible." Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "Looks, James, we're handling it, okay? You just concentrate on your schoolwork."

James gave a disappointed look and headed off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, passing Neville and Ernie as he did so.

Harry's two old friends looked at him apprehensively. "Something's going on, isn't it?"Neville asked.

Harry had been reluctant to include James but both Neville and Ernie had fought alongside him against Voldemort's forces. Having them on his side appealed greatly. So he nodded. "Yes it is."


	7. Chapter 7: The Centre of the Problem

**I don't know how long I'm going to be able to carry on updating like this, I think it might slow down once Christmas is over. Thank you again for all the reviews, favourites and alerts. Someone pointed out I've spent five chapters referring to the Death Mark when it should be the Dark Mark: Apologies to anyone who was irritated by that, I'm not going to edit the earlier chapters but I'll try not to do it again.**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER SEVEN: The Centre of the Problem<p>

"Did you find out anything new in Hogwarts?"Ron asked after finding Harry back in his office.

"Nothing that we didn't already know,"Harry admitted. "I'm sure there's Dark Wizards operating out there, although every time we search the forest we don't find any sign of them."

"Maybe they're all wearing Invisibility Cloaks?"Ron suggested drily.

Harry winced at the thought. Having learned the significance of his own cloak, he'd had it safely locked away in the Potter family vault at Gringott's, where he had it on good authority it had remained ever since. "I've been checking over the paperwork,"he noted. "Most of this stuff is just as useless as it was when I first looked at it but I've found three reports that are worrying."

Ron took the three sheets of paper that Harry offered and looked over them. "Missing person reports?"

Harry nodded. "The first one was a witch named Miranda Bloggs. She disappeared shortly after getting married. Her friends were worried about her but all the signs suggested that she and her new husband had left to start a new life together. Except I didn't take a close enough look at her new husband. There's a wedding photo attached to the report. He's been Transfigured to hide his appearance but if you look closely enough…"

Ron's eyes widened in shock. "That's Augustus Rookwood! But why would he want to marry this woman and then… disappear her?"

"I don't know. She was a historian, who'd taken a great deal of interest in Voldemort's downfall, but I don't see what she could know that anyone who was close to Voldemort didn't. The second case is even stranger."

Ron looked at the name. "Silas Merriweather?" He looked over the rest of the parchment. "A children's book editor?"

"Left his job suddenly saying he'd been offered a new job and hasn't been heard of since. Shortly beforehand, he was in charge of a new translation of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_."

"The Deathly Hallows?"Ron asked cautiously.

"Maybe. But Voldemort was never interested in those and I'm not sure what his followers could do with them. But the third case is the most worrying of all."

"Jeremiah Obeney." Ron swallowed hard as he read the next sentence. "Necromancer."

Harry nodded. "He tended to disappear for long periods on some quest to revive a particular branch of magic so no-one was worried he hadn't been seen."

"But necromancy doesn't work!"Ron protested. "I mean, not really. You can animate a corpse but you can't bring back the person it used to be."

"That's what we've always been told. But all these people… What if they're under the Imperius Curse? What if they're being made to give the Death Eaters information? What if they're trying to bring back Voldemort?"

"But he's gone for good this time! We all saw it."

Hermione entered, carrying a large pile of newspapers. "Maybe he has,"she replied. "But something's going on."

Ron looked at the paper on the top of the pile. "What's the Daily Telegraph?"

"It's a Muggle newspaper. You think this will only affect wizards if Voldemort's back? I've looked at newspaper from the past month and come across eight unexplained deaths. Each time, the deceased was found with no visible injuries or cause of death."

Harry froze. The description was horribly familiar. "The Killing Curse?"

Hermione nodded.

"I don't understand,"Ron protested. "Okay, these three missing witches and wizards could have information that Death Eaters want. But what information could eight Muggles have?"

"They're not doing it for information,"Harry replied grimly. "They're doing it for fun."

* * *

><p>James walked into the Gryffindor common room and quickly found Martin sitting near the fire. He slipped into a seat near him, talking in a quiet voice. "My dad was here earlier."<p>

Martin looked around cautiously, as though they were involved in some secret business. "Why?"

"Talking to your dad. And McGonagall. About Timothy and his girlfriend being attacked in the woods."

"You think it was Death Eaters?"

"Do you think I'm wrong?"

For a moment, Martin was going to give one of his earlier denials. But after the events of the last few weeks, he had become a lot less certain that this was all James' imagination. The evidence was becoming too great to ignore. "Okay, I admit there's something going on."

"More than that,"James insisted. "There's something going on _here_. The intruders, You Know Who's sign, Timothy, it's all linked to Hogwarts. And it's all linked to what happened to Mum."

Martin could see his friend's intensity. If truth were told, he shared it. A real mystery at Hogwarts, of the kind their parents used to cope with, had a lot of appeal. "What do you want to do?"

"Find out what's going on. This isn't a game anymore, Martin, it's for real. We're going to find out what they're doing in Hogwarts and we're going to stop them. Whether our dads want us involved or not."


	8. Chapter 8: The Third Order

**Sincerest apologies to everyone who's been waiting for an update, I'd nearly finished this chapter when my computer chose New Year's Eve, when everywhere's closed for three days, to die on me so I've only just got it back. Hope it's worth the wait!**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER EIGHT: The Third Order<p>

Harry pushed the papers he, Ron and Hermione had gathered across the Minister's desk, wondering why, even after twenty years at the Ministry, going to see a superior always felt like being back in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. Kingsley looked them over, pausing when he came to the Daily Telegraph. "Muggle paper?"

"Hermione's idea,"Harry explained. Kingsley gave a nod of understanding. Harry took a deep breath. Somehow it had all seemed much simpler when he was trying to convince his two friends. "It's all linked, Kingsley. The Muggle murders, the disappearances, the goings-on at Hogwarts… Ginny. There's a group behind it all. Death Eaters or neo-Death Eaters or the ghost of Voldemort himself! But it's definitely happening."

"I agree,"Kingsley replied. He smiled at Harry's look of shock. "You think you're the only one to notice all this? I think anyone with an enquiring mind would notice the chain of events."

"Then… then why aren't we doing anything about it?"

Kingsley was quiet for a long time. "Even now, there are many in the Ministry who were still here when Voldemort was running things. I'm certain that most of them are basically good people who were too frightened to do the right thing. But all? And not just those from that time, you'd be surprised how many of the younger people still have ideas about wizards or purebloods being superior. The sad fact is that even after spending the last two decades trying to reform it, I do not fully trust the Ministry I lead. If the fact we have this information was made public, I cannot guarantee it won't get back to the wrong ears. We must fight this, Harry. But we must do it covertly."

Harry realised what he was saying. "The Order of the Phoenix. You think we need to reform it."

Kingsley nodded. "It is the only way."

"I'll help you all I can, Minister. I'm sure Ron and Hermione will too and most of the staff at Hogwarts, Neville and Ernie have already offered to help and Professor McGonagall's keeping an eye on things. And there's other people I'm sure we can count on…"

Kingsley held up a hand. "I'm an old man, Harry. I'm older now than Dumbledore was when he became headmaster of Hogwarts, do you believe that? This battle needs to be fought by the young. By your generation."

Harry didn't quite understand the implication. "Then what..?"

"It's you, Harry. I'm asking you to form and lead a Third Order of the Phoenix."

* * *

><p>"What's he doing here?"was James' response when he saw Rose and Albus had brought Scorpius with them.<p>

"He's with me,"Rose replied.

James looked hard at Albus, who just shrugged. "He's with her."

"This is family business,"James insisted.

Rose gestured to Martin. "Well, he's here because he's your friend. Why can't I bring my friends?"

"I've known this family for years,"Martin retorted.

Albus looked awkwardly at James. "Scorpius has been kind of helpful to Rose lately."

"Either he stays or I go,"Rose insisted.

James gave in. If there was one thing he shared with his father, it was an awareness that Granger genes were useful when you're doing research. "Okay, pull up a chair, Scorpius."

"So why have you asked us to the library?"Rose asked as they all joined James and Martin at their table.

"It's to do with Mum,"James said quietly and everyone fell silent. Scorpius as well, he noticed. "And everything else, all the stuff that's happened here lately. We think there might be a link to what happened here all those years ago, to You Know Who."

"You mean when he attacked Hogwarts?"Scorpius asked.

James nodded. He gestured to the pile of books in the centre of the table. "We've gathered together every book we could find on the battle."

"James, all our parents were there,"Rose reminded him. "We know all about the battle."

"Do we?"Martin asked. "They never talk about it. We just get the odd snippet here and there."

"But suppose we find out something we don't want to know?"

James shrugged. "I guess we've got to risk it."

Silently, Rose took one of the books from the pile and started reading. The others followed suit.

* * *

><p>Harry had a feeling his house had never been so full. Given Shacklebolt's commission, he'd got in touch with several of his old colleagues from Dumbledore's Army, along with other people he knew he could trust, most of whom were currently occupying his front room. There was Ron and Hermione, of course, and Neville and Luna. Ernie and Susan, Hermione's colleague in the Law Ministry, had been joined by their old friends from Hufflepuff House, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Three of his brothers-in-law - Bill, Percy and George. Bill's wife Fleur and her sister Gabrielle, their daughter Victoire and her fiancè Teddy Lupin, Harry's godson. Oliver Wood, the father of Timothy and one of Harry's old Quidditch teammates, now managed a team with Angelina Johnson as his assistant and they were both catching up with Katie Bell, who now played as keeper for a lower division team, and Lee Jordan, now a sports correspondent for the Daily Prophet. Parvati Patil, who worked in the Department of Mysteries, and her twin sister Padma were there, along with Michael Corner, Ginny's old boyfriend, and Cho Chang, Harry's old girlfriend. And Harry's old roommates, Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas, who now worked at Gringott's.<p>

Harry took a deep breath. "Okay,"he told them all. "I think most of you probably know about what's happened recently. About the events at Hogwarts…" – he glanced at Oliver who nodded in confirmation – "…about the deaths and disappearances and…about the murder of Ginny, my wife." He looked in the direction of his in-laws, all of whom bowed their heads respectively. "We don't know who's behind this all yet but if someone is embracing Voldemort's ideals, then we need to embrace the ideals we all stuck to when he last returned, the ideals that Professor Dumbledore taught us. We need to find out who they are and we need to stop them."

"Does that mean fighting them?"Dean asked.

"Probably,"Harry admitted. "Which is one good reason for us all to meet up like this. Because when we do find them, we need to be prepared. Who's had duelling practise lately?"

Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ernie, Susan, Bill, Fleur, Percy and Parvati all raised their hands. Harry had expected as much: Both the Ministry and Hogwarts liked to have their staff trained in case of emergencies. And who knew what Luna got up to in her spare time?

"All right. Hermione, you and Ron take the others into the back garden and see how much training they need. The rest of us will go over what we already know."

Hermione nodded. "I'll cast a few privacy charms around it first. Don't want to upset your neighbours."

As the rest of the group followed Ron and Hermione outside, Cho stopped by Harry. "I was sorry to hear about Ginny."

"Thanks, Cho,"Harry answered.

"If there's anything you need…"

"Cho!" Michael called. "We have to get going."

Harry saw an odd flicker of disappointment across Cho's face before she joined the others outside.

"I think she still likes you a bit,"remarked Luna, who had suddenly appeared at Harry's shoulder.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I was getting that impression."

"You should probably tell her there's someone else."

Harry looked at her in confusion. She might be talking about Ginny but somehow he didn't think so. "What do you mean?"

Luna blinked. "Oh, don't you know that yet?" She walked off to chat with Neville and Ernie.

Harry looked round to see if anyone had heard the conversation and saw George was within earshot. "Everything she says is either very strange or very profound and sometimes I can't tell which is which,"Harry commented.

George shrugged. "You've got me."

* * *

><p>The quintet of students in the library had spent the last few hours going over every account they could find of the last battle with Voldemort's forces, trying to find any reference that might explain why someone would be taking an interest in Hogwarts now. Scorpius had looked uncomfortable every time they'd come across a reference to his family fighting in Voldemort's army but Rose had been quick to remind James and Albus of what their father, her Uncle Harry, had always told them: That Scorpius' grandparents had saved his life during the battle and that was why they had been pardoned for supporting Voldemort. (She decided not to mention that whenever he said so, her own father had a tendency to make a snorting noise and then, when her mother glared at him, pretend he was developing a cold.)<p>

At last, just when it seemed nothing would come of James' idea, Rose looked up. "I've found something."

Four pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly. "Go on,"James invited.

"In the middle of the battle, You Know Who called a ceasefire. He retreated into the Forbidden Forest and he asked your dad - Uncle Harry - to meet him there."

"And he refused, right?"asked Albus.

"No, he went." Rose saw their looks of astonishment. "He went into the forest alone and… it's all a bit vague about this but it seems You Know Who tried to kill him and the curse failed, again." She looked at Scorpius. "That's when your grandparents saved him. They told You Know Who that he was dead."

"So what happened after that?"Martin asked.

Rose shrugged. "You Know Who's army went to Hogwarts to parade the body, but when it turned out he wasn't dead that helped encourage everyone to carry on fighting. That's when You Know Who was defeated."

James was nodding eagerly. "This is it. This is what we've been looking for."

"Are you sure?"Scorpius asked doubtfully.

"You heard what Rose said. You Know Who's army was in the forest and Dad went to confront them. Something must have happened there and that must be why they're there now." He stopped, his enthusiasm abating as he realised that was where his train of thought ended. "But what?"


	9. Chapter 9: A Tale of Two Cases

**Thanks for all your words of encouragement.**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER NINE: A Tale of Two Cases<p>

"What are you doing?"

James winced at the voice and peered over the top of his book. Sure enough, Lily had entered the library and, as he'd expected, she had Hugo with her. "Homework,"he said abruptly, hoping that it would be enough to put her off.

It wasn't. "Since when were you lot in the same year?"she demanded.

Hugo nodded in agreement. "You all study different things."

"We are studying different things,"James retorted. "We're just… studying them together."

Lily shook her head. "You're up to something,"she replied with conviction. "I'm going to tell Professor Longbottom."

"You can't,"Martin called. "He's not here today."

Lily looked thrown for a moment, then her face cleared. "Well, I'll tell Professor Slughorn then." She pointed towards Scorpius. "He's _his _Head of House at least."

She turned towards the door, looking like she was about to go and do just that. Albus scampered away from the table and took hold of her arm, stopping her. "Lily, okay, you're right. We are up to something. But… it's to do with Mum." At that sentence, Lily instantly seemed to become quieter. "We think we can find out about what happened to her, why they did it, who they are. But it's important that you don't tell anyone what we're doing."

James couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy as he saw his younger siblings' interaction. He knew that he'd never in a million years have managed to get Lily onside as easily as Albus had. All the same, he was glad Albus had managed it.

"Okay,"Lily accepted. "We won't tell anyone."

Hugo hesitated, looking at his sister. "This is safe, isn't it?"

"Perfectly,"Rose insisted. "Soon as we find out anything, we'll tell someone."

Hugo nodded, although he didn't seem entirely convinced. But he and Lily left them alone anyway.

"I got that right, didn't I?"Rose asked James. "We're not going to do anything dangerous?"

"Well, at the moment there's not much we can do,"Scorpius pointed out.

"He's right, James,"Martin agreed. "You've had us looking over every account we can find of what happened in the Forbidden Forest that night but we haven't found anything new in days."

"Well, then we'll just have to keep looking,"Albus replied as he took his seat.

James nodded. "Right, Albus. Martin, we can't give up now. We're the only ones who've realised there's anything wrong at Hogwarts."

* * *

><p>"Neville, Ernie, I need you to keep an eye on things at Hogwarts,"Harry directed. "I don't know how it's connected but there's been enough weird stuff going on around there that we can be sure something else is going to happen."<p>

"You can rely on us,"Ernie confirmed.

"Oliver." Harry led his old captain over to a table where he'd laid out a map of the country. "I want you, Angelina, Katie, Cho, Michael and Lee to pair up between you. I've marked out every place we know in this country that's got a link with Death Eaters - places they used to live, places they used to use as meeting places - and divided it into three. Each pair use your brooms to check out a section. See if any of them's being used as a base by a Death Eater cell."

"What if we don't find anything?"Oliver asked.

"Then search them again,"Harry snapped. "Or else we can look further afield. Voldemort holed up in Romania the first time he was defeated, maybe they're based there. But this seems like a good place to start."

"I can keep an eye on things at the Department of Mysteries,"Parvati offered. "You Know Who's followers took an interest in it before, they might go there again."

Harry nodded approvingly. "Good idea."

"It'd help if I had Padma there to help me."

"I'll talk to Kingsley, see if he can arrange it."

"I'm going to train flutterwings to act as spies for us,"Luna piped up. "You can learn a lot from them."

"I thought flutterwings did not exist?"asked Fleur.

Luna gave a knowing nod. "That's what they want people to think."

"Er, thanks, Luna,"Harry agreed, knowing better than to try and argue the point with her.

Hannah was standing with Justin, Susan, Seamus and Dean. "I'm not sure what we can do to help,"she admitted.

"You can make sure this place is staffed at all times,"Harry replied. "We need to be able to send messages here and know that there's someone to pass it on and send help. I'll sort out a rota system for when people aren't needed elsewhere. Don't think I don't need any of you, I know I've asked a lot of you…"

"Are you joking?"Justin asked. "I got locked up in Azkabhan just for being a Muggle-born last time Death Eaters were running things."

"And most of my family were killed,"Susan reminded him. "So don't think any of us are just going to stand by and let it happen again."

Harry smiled at them. "Thanks, all of you." He noticed Ron coming through from the back with a disgruntled looking Teddy. He gave his godson a reassuring pat on the shoulder before taking Ron aside. "How's he shaping up?"

"Well, he's mastered a few useful jinxes and hexes but nothing spectacular. I don't know what they teach them at Hogwarts these days."

"Guess Voldemort isn't as recent a memory for them as he was for us. And they don't have a trio of rabble-rousing students forming teenage gangs. Talking of which, where's Hermione?"

Ron sighed. "Overseeing the last bit of training."

* * *

><p>Hermione was trying to keep a positive look on her face as she watched Victoire's attempts to spar with Gabrielle. "Impedimenta!" Victoire shouted, aiming her wand at Gabrielle as she charged towards her.<p>

The charm obviously didn't work since Gabrielle didn't stop. "Expelliarmus!" she snapped back, knocking Victoire's wand from her grasp.

Hermione sighed. "Remember, Victoire, you need to get the pronunciation and the hand movement exactly right. And you need to really mean to stop the other person, focus on that."

"But I like Aunt Gabrielle,"Victoire protested. "I don't want to hurt her."

"I could get George or Percy to come out here,"Hermione offered. "They usually manage to get people annoyed with them."

"Expelliarmus!"declared Harry as he emerged from the house, knocking Victoire's wand flying again only a second after she'd retrieved it.

"Or you could try casting a spell on the show off who just interrupted us," Hermione concluded.

Harry nodded to the two younger women. "Get back inside, you two, Ron's checking on everyone's availability for being at base." He waited until they'd gone before leaning against a wall and letting out a deep sigh.

Hermione looked at him closely. "It's been a long time since I've seen that face."

Harry was confused. "What face?"

"That one where you think you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders and you're the only one who can prevent a disaster. You're not alone, Harry. I've told you that before."

"Always seem to be the one who has to take the lead though, don't I? I really thought all this was over. I'm tired of being the Chosen One, Hermione."

"We don't trust you to do this because you're the Chosen One, Harry. We trust you to do it because you're our friend." She squeezed his hand and he smiled. She took him by the arm. "Come on, let's find you someone to boss about. It always makes me feel better."

* * *

><p>James closed his book. "I've got it."<p>

"You've found something?"Martin asked.

"Eh? No, I wasn't reading it, I leave that to Rose."

"Oh, thanks very much,"Rose retorted.

"I was just thinking and I've got it."

"Got what?"asked Albus.

"We've assumed that this is because of something that happened when Dad went to confront You Know Who in the forest, right?" He looked around the table and was greeted with a series of nods. "But we know he had his Death Eaters with him at the time, so if anything did happen, they'd be the first ones to know about it."

"So, why are they in the forest?"Scorpius asked.

James lowered his voice almost to a whisper. "_Because there's something there._"

If he'd been expecting a shocked reaction to his pronouncement, he was disappointed. Instead, he just got confused looks. "Huh?"Martin responded.

"You Know Who left something in the woods. A weapon or a potion or a book of spells or a plan or something. Something he meant to go back for, only he couldn't, because he was dead. And they're trying to find it so they can… I don't know, do something!"

"Suppose you're right,"Rose considered,"what do we do?"

"Simple. We try and find it ourselves."


	10. Chapter 10: Turning Point

**Thank you for all the words of encouragement. I'm glad people think Lily's like Ginny was at that age because that's what I was aiming for, as will become obvious later.**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER TEN: Turning Point<p>

Harry checked his watch again before looking back at the Floo Network. He was rewarded with the appearance, right on time, of Oliver's head. "Hey, Harry,"he greeted him.

"Hey, Oliver,"Harry returned. "Got any news?"

Oliver grimaced. "Sorry, Harry. We've double-checked all the addresses you gave us but either they're empty or there's very confused old ladies worrying we've frightened their cats. Maybe the others…"

Harry shook his head. "I've already spoken to Katie and Cho. They didn't find anything either."

"So, what, are we bound for Romania after all?"

Harry didn't smile. "Actually, I've already told Cho and Michael to check that out. I want you and Angelina to check out some of Igor Karkaroff's old haunts in the Ukraine."

Oliver looked bewildered. "Karkaroff's been dead twenty years, Harry, and he wasn't exactly on good terms with You Know Who then. You really think he's mixed up in this?"

"No but the other Death Eaters might know more about those places than we do. They've got to be somewhere and at the moment anywhere's worth a try. I've got a list put together for you."

Oliver's hand came snaking out of the fireplace and took the list from Harry's hand. "Okay, Harry, I'll get back to you once we're over there." He disappeared.

In truth, Harry agreed with Oliver's assessment. He wasn't really expecting the searches to turn up anything. But the idea of inactivity, when he was certain Death Eaters were up to something he didn't know about, was unthinkable. When he'd first called the Order together and set them up on their watches, at Hogwarts, at the Ministry, he was certain news would arrive soon. But days had gone by and they knew nothing more than when he'd first spoken to them.

He heard a commotion in the hallway and hurried out there. He was greeted by the sight of Seamus and Dean dragging a burly man along between them, pointing their wands at him. "Found this bloke hanging around outside," Seamus explained. "At first we thought he was a spy for the Death Eaters but… he's a Muggle." Seamus said the word as if it was some strange exotic creature that he'd considered a myth.

"I know,"Harry replied. "He's my cousin. Aren't you, Dudley?"

* * *

><p>Harry led Dudley up to his study. He was still trying to hide the shock at seeing his cousin again. Even though they seemed to have got over the emnity that existed between them when they were boys, he'd always considered Dudley a part of a past he was happy to leave behind and he had a feeling Dudley felt the same about him. "How did you know I was here?"he asked as he took a seat, gesturing for Dudley to sit opposite him.<p>

"I got in touch with that guy you got to look after me and Mum and Dad," Dudley explained. "Dedalus? He told me where to find you."

Harry was momentarily annoyed, although in truth his address was quite well known and there were far more dangerous people than Dudley who knew where it was. "What are you doing here, Dudley?"he asked, with a slightly impatient edge.

Dudley was silent for a few moments. "It's happening again, isn't it, Harry?"he asked at last. "I've been seeing the papers, all the deaths, it's like last time when that guy, that Voldemort, was around. He's back, isn't he?"

"I don't know,"Harry admitted. "But you're right, there's something going on."

"It's just… I've got a family now, Harry. I've got a wife, I've got two kids, I… I wouldn't like anything to happen to them. Is there anything you can do?"

The idea of Dudley married with children was one of the biggest surprises Harry had received. Somehow he'd never imagined his cousin as a family man. "Where do you live, Dudley?"

"Chiswick."

It made sense, Harry thought. Dudley's parents wouldn't have let him settle anywhere common. He checked some papers on his desk. "Anthony Goldstein,"he said at last. "An old friend of mine from school, he lives near you. I'll get in touch with him and ask him to cast some protection charms around your home and family, okay?"

Harry suspected Dudley had no idea what he'd just said but he nodded gratefully anyway. "Thanks, Harry." Harry knew he meant it. He got up to go then paused. "Do you have any family?"

Harry paused. It was the first time he'd had to talk about Ginny with someone who hadn't known her. "I've got three children,"he said at last. "They're away at school at the moment. I had a wife but… she was killed a month ago."

Dudley looked awkward. "Sorry."

"Why?"

"I dunno, it's just something you say." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "It wasn't that girl I saw you with at the station, was it? When that guy with the weird eye was threatening Dad? He said he saw her kiss you on the cheek one time."

"No, that's Hermione." Harry had forgotten the Dursleys had met her, if somewhat fleetingly. "Her name was Ginny." He took a picture from his desk: Ginny with the children, the previous summer. The last photo of them all together. "That's her there."

Dudley took it from him and examined it. "Is this photo moving?"

Harry snatched it back. "It's a wizard thing."

Dudley offered his hand to Harry, who briefly clasped it. "Well… good luck, Harry."

"Thanks, Dudley,"Harry answered. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

* * *

><p>James, Martin and Albus were waiting in the Gryffindor common room as Rose came down the stairs from the girls' dormitories. "Where have you been?" James hissed in annoyance.<p>

"I had to make sure the coast was clear,"Rose hissed back.

"Look, never mind that now,"Albus told them. "If we're going to do this, let's get a move on."

James led the way out of the portal into the school corridor. He checked his watch. "We should get going."

"He'll be here,"Rose retorted.

She was proved right a few moments later as Scorpius appeared round the corner from the direction of the Slytherin common room. "Are we going to do this then?"he asked.

James silently led the way through the corridors. It had taken them several days to come up with a plan to leave the school unseen. During lesson times the corridors were too busy and they'd be missed too soon and at night the school was too quiet, with staff on regular patrol for students out of their beds. The only time they'd been able to think of that might work was meal times, when most of the staff and pupils were in the Great Hall, and after that decision had come the observations, checking when everyone was likely to be present so they could move around undisturbed.

They reached the front door and looked out into the courtyard. It was nearly dusk, the sun beginning to vanish behind the trees. James took a last glance up at the windows and balconies surrounding the courtyard, reassuring himself no-one could see them. "Come on."

* * *

><p>The journey to the forest was a short one but the experience when they got there was unnerving. None of them had been in there without the company of a staffmember before and the constant movement of the local wildlife set them on edge. "Are you sure we're not about to get ourselves killed for nothing?"Martin asked, jumping at every shadow that was illuminated by his wand's glowing tip.<p>

"There's something here, I know there is,"James replied. "Now spread out and search."

Rose shrank back at the direction, moving closer to Scorpius. "You're not saying we should split up, are you?"

"It might be safer to stay together,"Albus added.

James sighed. "Fine, we'll stay together but keep your eyes peeled and… Aargh!"

The five of them drew back in fright as their wands illuminated an intimidating face glaring at them.

Professor McGonagall.

"And what are you five doing here?"she demanded.

James wasn't quite sure how to answer. "Well, we…"

"It's to do with everything that's been going on here,"Albus replied. "We think there's Death Eaters searching for something in these woods."

"And what were you planning to do if you encountered any?"McGonagall enquired.

"We know lots of spells!"Rose pointed out.

"We know how to look after ourselves,"Scorpius agreed.

"Oh – and you think Death Eaters don't know lots of spells as well?" McGonagall asked ironically. "You are so like your parents. It may surprise you to know that you were not the first to have this idea. I have been keeping an eye on these woods as well, on the direction of your father, Mr. Potter and Mr. Potter, who is working with your parents, Miss Weasley, and your parents, Mr. Longbottom, and a number of other interested grown-ups who are far more qualified to deal with this situation than five young teenagers. Now, perhaps it would be best if I conducted you all back to Hogwarts?"

The children fell in line with her, feeling rather embarrassed by their actions. Then Martin stopped. "Hang on a minute. Did anyone else just hear something?"

* * *

><p>Neville stood in the courtyard outside Hogwarts, staring into the gloom. Flitwick and Slughorn emerged from the building behind him. "I shouldn't worry,"Flitwick tried to tell him.<p>

Neville shook his head. "All of them missing. We should have noticed it earlier. They're probably up to something stupid. It's in the blood."

"I'm sure there's nothing to be concerned about,"Slughorn told him. "You forget, Minerva's out there and she's bound to bring them back safe and sound. Ah, see?"

The last comment was in response to a silver cat rushing towards them from the direction of the Forbidden Forest. McGonagall's Patronus. As soon as it got near them, it opened its mouth and spoke with McGonagall's voice.

"Death Eaters in the forest. The children are here. Send help."

Neville didn't even hesitate. He drew his wand and ran towards the forest. Slughorn took a step back towards the school. "Perhaps I should inform the others..?"

"Come on, Horace!"Flitwick snapped, pushing his colleague ahead of him.

Following the Patronus, Neville reached the clearing moments before the other two. McGonagall was lying face down in the earth. Of anyone else, there was no sign. "Martin!"Neville called desperately. "Martin! James! Where are you all?"

"How is she?"Flitwick asked Slughorn, who had bent to check on McGonagall.

Slughorn looked up in disbelief. "She's… dead!"

"But what about the children?"Neville demanded frantically. "Where are they?"


	11. Chapter 11: Hard Choices

**Well, I received an e-mail notification of a review of the last chapter but it doesn't seem to be on the site. Thanks to the person who wrote it anyway. This does end up as a minor blood bath: Not quite Deathly Hallows levels but getting that way...**

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><p>CHAPTER ELEVEN: Hard Choices<p>

Professor McGonagall's body had been laid out in her room at Hogwarts. Harry stood looking down at her. Another person dead because he'd made the wrong choices. He only hoped it was just the one, that none of the five missing children had shared her fate. The only thing in their favour was that no more bodies had been found. He kept telling himself that if they'd been killed they'd have been left where they'd fallen, as McGonagall had been.

Slughorn was with Harry. Harry had been surprised when his old Potions Master had greeted him on his arrival at the school, until he'd remembered that Slughorn had been McGonagall's deputy. That meant he was now headmaster of Hogwarts, at least until a permanent decision could be made.

"It's a bad business, Harry,"Slughorn sighed. "I was going to inform the Ministry but your friends Neville and Ernie insisted I contact you directly. I hope I did the right thing."

"You did, Professor,"Harry confirmed. "I've spoken with Kingsley and we both agree this should be kept as quiet as possible for now."

"The students will have to be informed,"Slughorn pointed out.

"Well…I'll leave you to handle that." Harry headed for the door, knowing there were people he needed to talk to.

"Yes, of course,"Slughorn replied, sounding slightly blustered. "My staff are ready to assist in any way possible, just say the word. Harry…" – and suddenly he seemed to become more serious – "…I did tell you that Minerva's message mentioned Death Eaters, didn't I?"

Harry paused in the doorway and looked back at him. "Yes, Professor, you did."

"It…it can't be starting again, can it?"

"Not if I can help it,"Harry replied. Yet he had a nagging feeling that it already had.

* * *

><p>Since he was now acting head, Slughorn had allowed Harry the use of his usual office. A group of concerned parents were waiting when he arrived there: Ron, Hermione, Neville…and Draco Malfoy. Harry would have been happy if he could have avoided informing Draco of what had happened but given that he was Scorpius' father, it hadn't really been an option. All the same, Draco's reaction on seeing him confirmed his first thoughts.<p>

"At last,"Draco snapped testily. "You've got half a brain, Potter, do you mind sparing the time to tell me what's going on?"

"He's been paying his respects to Professor McGonagall,"Neville reminded him.

"Yeah and it's a shame she's dead and everything but what about Scorpius?"

Harry looked hard at Draco. Although he had long accepted that Draco's actions in Voldemort's service had been motivated more by fear than genuine malevolence, the fact remained that Draco had been a Death Eater and his family were still fairly outspoken on the subject of pureblood superiority. It made trusting him rather difficult.

Then again, Snape had been a Death Eater and Harry had never trusted him because of it. He sometimes wondered how many lives might have been saved if they'd worked together instead of constantly seeing the worst in each other.

"You heard about what happened to Ginny?"Harry asked.

Draco snorted. "Are you kidding? There was nothing else in the papers for a week."

"Well, we think it's linked to a lot of other disappearances and to some incidents at Hogwarts. It seems that our children took it upon themselves to investigate and stumbled upon the culprits. Which, so far as we can tell, are a group of former Death Eaters."

Draco blanched slightly but he soon got his spirit back. "What was Scorpius doing mixed up with your lot?"

It was Hermione that answered. "Rose has talked about him a lot in her letters recently. She said he was a good friend to her after Ginny died."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh wonderful. Great new world you've created, Potter. Scorpius should know better than to hang out with the likes of your children. Look how he's ended up as a result."

"Don't pretend you care, Malfoy, it doesn't suit you,"Ron snapped at him.

Draco squared up to him, despite being noticeably shorter. "Oh, what, only Gryffindors care about their chidren? Well, let me tell you something, you pathetic Muggle-lover…"

"Stop it, both of you!"Hermione shouting, her voice breaking as she did so. Harry hadn't realised how close to tears she was. "Your children are missing and you're still having the same old arguments!" She ran out of the room.

There was an embarrassed silence for a few moments. Ron looked at Harry. "Can you see how she is? Whenever I try to talk to her when she's like this, I seem to end up with her wand pointed in my face."

Harry nodded in agreement. As he left the office, he spoke quietly to Neville. "Try and stop them killing each other until I get back."

* * *

><p>Harry found Hermione in one of the empty classrooms. She had her back to him but he could tell she was crying. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you all right?"<p>

Hermione reached up and placed one of her hands over one of his, as if drawing strength from the connection. After a few moments, she turned to him. "They're going to be all right, aren't they? Rose and…and James and Albus and the others?"

"Of course they are,"Harry replied soothingly. "We'll make sure they are." He gently wiped the tears from her face and she rewarded him with a smile. He stroked her hair and then, as if responding to some unknown impulse, he softly kissed her.

For a moment, he thought Hermione was going to push him away or slap him. But then she started to kiss him back. The kiss seemed to go on for several seconds, their touch pleasing to both of them, until slowly they both stopped. They looked each other in the eye, as if making a silent agreement not to mention what had just happened.

"We should get back,"Harry said.

Hermione nodded. "You go on, I'll catch you up."

Once Harry was out of the office, Hermione let out a long breath. She'd just kissed Harry. A real, proper grown-up kiss. And it occurred to her that, for the first time in over twenty years, Harry was available, free to start a relationship with whoever he wanted.

But she wasn't, she reminded herself. She had a husband, she had two children, one of whom was missing and probably in danger. However right kissing Harry had felt, it had been wrong. Yet however much the rational part of her mind told her that, she couldn't quite block out the voice that said it would be nice to kiss Harry again.

* * *

><p>Harry tried hard to keep the smile off his face as he headed back to the office. In his life, he had kissed surprisingly few people. There had been Cho, of course, a few fumbling kisses back in their school years. And then, from the age of sixteen, the only person he'd kissed had been Ginny. Until now, when suddenly the last person he'd kissed was Hermione. He should probably feel guilty about that but somehow he didn't.<p>

Then he saw Ron, deep in conversation with Neville while Draco looked on gloweringly, and suddenly he did feel guilty. Hermione was Ron's wife; Ron, who he loved like a brother. He'd had no right kissing her the way he had. He felt her presence behind him and wanted to turn and look at her but forced himself not to, to concentrate on the job in hand.

Hermione felt a pang of disappointment at Harry ignoring her then chided herself for the feeling. The important thing was getting the children back safe and sound, not going into a childish sulk because a boy hadn't noticed her.

"Well, Potter, have you got any ideas?"Draco asked.

Harry was about to admit that he hadn't when Neville spoke up. "We could talk to Professor Suovren."

"Who?"Harry asked.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Been here five years, pretty much a record. Whatever his faults, he definitely knows his stuff."

* * *

><p>Professor Suovren, when they found him in a classroom checking the results of his students' last wand practise, turned out to be a small and slightly nervy man. Of the rather undistinguished line of DADA teachers that Harry had had at Hogwarts, the one he most closely resembled was Professor Quirrell, a fact that had Harry constantly checking the back of Suovren's head to make sure he didn't have a Dark Wizard sticking out of it.<p>

"It seems to me your problem is the forest,"Suovren remarked, still paying more attention to various broken wands scattered around than anything else. "Dear, dear, a misused Disarming Charm can be so expensive…"

"What about the forest?"Harry interrupted.

"Well, you know something's going on there but finding out what is so hazardous. As your missing children have discovered and poor Professor McGonagall."

"Is this guy really the best you can find?"Draco asked.

"Trust me,"Neville assured him. "He'll get there in the end."

"So what do you suggest?"Harry asked the professor.

"You need to have advance warning of exactly where and when someone is going to be,"Suovren explained. "In short, you need an Apparition Detection Charm."

"Apparition Detection?"Hermione repeated. "I've never heard of those."

"Well, of course not, they're a closely guarded secret. They work on a similar principle to the magical defences that prevent people Apparating into Hogwarts. Cast one of them over an area and anyone Apparating into it will set off a silent alarm, which can only be heard by those the spellcaster chooses."

"So, how do we do that?"Ron asked.

Souvren pointed his wand in the air for a moment, then touched its tip to the forehead of all five of them. "It's done."

* * *

><p>Harry wasn't sure what it was that directed him when he decided to take a walk in the Hogwarts grounds but somehow he automatically found himself at Hagrid's shack. He pushed the door open and went inside. The place was empty, yet despite the damage done to it by the Death Eaters the night Dumbledore had died, it somehow managed to look exactly as he remembered from his youth.<p>

"Blimey, Harry!"exclaimed a voice behind him and Harry turned to find the shack's owner standing there. "For a moment there I thought I'd gone back twenty years. From behind, you looked just like you did when you were a student here. Mind you, when you first came here, yer didn't even come up to ma waist, do ya remember?"

Perhaps it was some nostalgic impulse but Harry stepped forward and hugged the half-giant. "Don't you ever change, Hagrid, you hear me?"

"Oh, I reckon it'd be too late for me t'do that now even if I wanted to." Hagrid wiped a tear from his eye. "I was sorry to hear about Ginny, Harry. She was a special sort of lady."

Harry nodded. "Yes, she was."

"Tea?"

"Er, no, thank you." Harry recalled that Hagrid's tea making skills often failed to match his enthusiasm.

"Oh, okay." Hagrid sat down gesturing for Harry to do the same. "I have your three popping in here to see me quite a bit. And the Weasley kids. Nice to be popular again. Especially your James. Guess it's on account of him being a bit lonely."

"Lonely?"Harry repeated. "James was always so…boisterous."

"Oh, yeah, but that don't mean he ain't lonely. Take young Sirius Black. Always in trouble he was when he was here, not a week when he wasn't in Dumbledore's office, but I reckon that was only because he felt a bit out of place in that family of his. Not that I'm comparing your family to that no good lot, you understand."

Harry sat in silence, thinking. He'd never really considered why James was the way he was. Now that he did, he was finding it rather uncomfortable.

"It's a shame he's missing. Shame they all are."

Harry stood up and clapped Hagrid on the shoulder. "We'll get them back, Hagrid. All of them."


	12. Chapter 12: Realisations

**Thanks for the review. And hopefully people who wondered where the Harry/Hermione bit was are still reading.**

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><p>CHAPTER TWELVE: Realisations<p>

More than a day had passed since McGonagall's death and the disappearance of the five children. In that time, Harry and the others hadn't moved from Hogwarts. Harry was well aware that they were pinning all their hopes on Souvren's spell but he was fresh out of ideas.

He sat in one of the empty classrooms with Lily and Hugo sat either side of him. Given their worries about their elder siblings, they had been excused from class. Neither of them could concentrate much anyway. Harry watched as the pair used their wands to practise floating a feather for Charms class. Hugo seemed to be having difficulty with the spell and Harry was keeping a close eye on him, remembering the destruction Seamus had wrought trying out the spell during their first year. Lily managed it nearly every time but the achievement seemed to be bringing her no pleasure.

"Can we help look for them?"Hugo asked at last.

Harry shook his head. "They're not in the forest anymore, we're sure of that. That's why we're planning to catch the people that took them when they come back."

"But what if they _don't_ come back?"

Harry had asked himself the same question quite a few times but he wasn't going to tell Hugo that. "They've been to the forest lots of times already, haven't they? So we can be pretty sure they're going to come back again."

"But is there anything we _can_ do to help?"Lily asked suddenly.

Harry looked at his daughter closely. "Tell me again what Albus said to you."

Lily thought hard. "He said that what they were doing was to do with what happened to Mum. That they were going to find out who…who killed her and why they did it and what else they were doing. Does that help?"

In truth it didn't but Harry smiled at her anyway. "Well, it's given me a lot to think about."

"Harry?" Hermione appeared in the door of the classroom. "Do you want some company?"

Harry got up, trying not to appear too hasty. "Can you just keep an eye on these two? I want to go for a walk."

Hermione felt that pang of disappointment again as he walked out and chided herself for it. There was no point in thinking that way.

"Where's Dad going?"Lily asked.

Hermione looked down at her niece, managing a smile. "I think he just wants to be on his own for a while."

* * *

><p>Harry walked through the corridors of the school, berating himself for his childishness. After all the years they'd known each other, he should manage to be around Hermione without feeling uncomfortable. Yet somehow, now, whenever he saw her, it seemed to spark off a lot of things he didn't want to feel. He was attracted to her. He was aware of that. If he was honest, he'd been attracted to her since they'd both gone through puberty. It had just never been an issue before. Even back then, from the way it had been obvious to everyone but them that they'd wanted to go to the Yule Ball together, he'd known that she and Ron liked each other. And it wasn't like he hadn't had other girls on his mind, from his infatuation with Cho to the growing strength of his feelings for Ginny. But now, it seemed like Hermione was on his mind more often than not, as if he was dreaming of a future that he knew couldn't happen.<p>

He noticed a slight blonde figure sitting by the side of the cloisters and realised it was Emily. She was dabbing at her eyes, as if trying to wipe away tears. He walked over to her. "Emily, are you all right?"

She looked up, startled. "Mr. Potter! Um, yes, of course I'm all right, I'm just…"

"Worried about Martin?"he suggested.

"No…yes…" Emily sighed. "Can I tell you something awful?"

He sat down next to her. "I doubt it'll be that awful."

"I _am_ worried about Martin but…most of the time I'm…I'm worried about James." She noticed his surprised look and sighed. "I said it was awful."

"No, no, it's not,"he assured her. "Martin's your brother and you love him but…I guess we all need someone special to worry about and to worry about us."

Emily looked flustered, pretty much confirming what he was beginning to suspect. "Oh, no, I don't mean anything like that…We're friends, that's all."

Harry smiled at her. "Wherever James is, if he knew you were thinking about him, I think it would make him happy."

* * *

><p>Hermione had taken Harry's place watching over the two children, as they lapsed into silence practising their first year spells. She found her mind drifting back to when she, Harry and Ron were that age: learning magic, fighting trolls and finding philosopher's stones. Somehow, it all seemed a long time ago.<p>

Ron slipped into the room and gave her a smile. Hugo saw him and ran to hug his father, holding onto him as though afraid he'd leave. Ron gently prised himself out of his grip. "How are you getting on with the spells?"

"Not very well,"Hugo admitted.

"Yeah, well, I was never any good at them either. Your mum kept telling me where I was going wrong. Tell you what, the Quidditch pitch is free. How about you and me go and have a bit of a flyabout?"

"Will we be allowed to?"

"Hey, I won the Quidditch Cup here once. They're not gonna say no to an ex-star player, are they?" He put his arm around his son's shoulders and led him out.

Hermione smiled as she watched them go. Having Ron in the house felt like having three children to look after at times but he'd always been able to relate well to Rose and Hugo. Better than she had, probably.

"Was my dad any good at spells?"Lily asked.

The question jolted Hermione out of her thoughts. She crouched down by Lily and smiled at her. "Has anyone ever told you the story of the day we had our first flying lesson?"

Lily shook her head, even though Hermione suspected they had.

"Well, what happened was…"

* * *

><p>Although McGonagall's funeral was being held elsewhere, the school had arranged a short memorial service to give the students a chance to remember her. Professor Flitwick, who had worked with her longer than anyone, shared his memories and Neville spoke on behalf of the Gryffindors.<p>

A number of ex-students had come to the school for the service and Harry noticed several members of the Order among them. He noticed Ron and Hermione sitting together and cursed himself for the irrational spark of jealousy he felt at their closeness. Even Draco was there, sat at the back and looking as though he wanted to be the first out.

When Slughorn dismissed them all, Harry hung back, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. He saw Parvati and Padma coming towards him and drew back to a secluded corner, sensing they wanted to talk in private.

"I'm sorry, Harry,"Parvati sighed. "We've been keeping an eye on things at the Ministry but we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary."

In truth, Harry wasn't surprised. It had been a long shot. "Well, you did your best,"he reassured them.

"Padma's had an idea though."

"It's that necromancer that disappeared,"Padma explained. "Obeney. You told us he had a habit of disappearing on quests? Well, we've had a look and it seems the last expedition he went on was to Tibet. There's a wizard living in seclusion there who's supposed to have found the secret of soul transference."

"Soul transference?"Harry repeated.

"It's a form of Dark Magic. A lot of people say it's a myth but if it's true then you can swap the soul of a live person for a dead one. Bring that person back to life in a new body while the person whose body it was dies."

"So, if Obeney found out the secret,"Parvati continued,"and if you're right about him being kidnapped and interrogated… maybe we should go there so we can find out just what he learned?"

Harry nodded. "All right. Let me know if you find anything."

* * *

><p>Harry made his way through the corridor of Hogwarts to a particular doorway. A stone guardian blocked his path. "It's Harry Potter,"he told it and the statue moved aside.<p>

He entered the office. The office of the head teacher of Hogwarts. Dumbledore's old office, Snape's old office, McGonagall's old office… He supposed now it was Slughorn's office.

He looked at the two portraits in the centre of the far wall. McGonagall's two immediate predecessors. "Do you know what's going on?" They nodded. "Do you have any advice for me?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I believe, Harry, there is very little I can tell you that you do not already know. The student surpassed the master a long time ago."

"And if you wish for my advice, Mr. Potter,"Snape droned,"then you should have paid more attention during all your wasted years as a student here."

Harry sighed. He'd expected as much. But it was worth a try. "Then I guess I'll have to find our children myself."

* * *

><p>A single glowing ball lit the room, the after effect of a Lumos Maxima Charm. The five of them huddled in the basement, aware that it was cold and dank and moisture was running down the walls. Albus and Scorpius had sat either side of Rose, the three of them cuddling up for warmth. James and Martin sat opposite. They had only received a glimpse of the dark robed figures who had grabbed them and transported them to this place, after hitting McGonagall with a Killing Curse in front of them. Once a day, a hatch appeared in the door and food was pushed through. The rest of the time, they had no idea what was going on elsewhere in the building, wherever it was. Albus had suggested that someone had cast a Muffliato Charm around them and no-one disagreed.<p>

"I'm frightened,"Rose admitted quietly, not for the first time.

She expected James to snap at her, as he had done on all the previous occasions. It was unnerving that he simply sighed. "Me too."


	13. Chapter 13: The Death Eaters

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:The Death Eaters

The moon was shining low over the Forbidden Forest as Harry looked out towards it from the grounds of Hogwarts. He hoped it would make the job easier if they had to go out there that night. The constant inactivity was driving him crazy but the charms that Souvren had cast remained their best chance of finding their way to where the children were being held. Of course, that didn't stop him pacing nervously back and forth throughout the grounds, as though that would somehow make something happen.

He nearly tripped over a shape lying in the grass and it took him a second for his eyes to adjust to the light enough for him to realise who it was. "Hermione! What are you doing here?"

Hermione struggled into a sitting position. "If I tell you, you'll only laugh."

"No I won't,"he promised.

"I just… I thought if I was out here I'd be closer to the forest so if anything did happen I could get there sooner." She saw Harry's amused look and sighed. "I didn't think you'd understand."

"No, I understand. There isn't any reason for me to be out here either."

"Great minds think alike, hey?"

Harry sat down next to her. He wondered if he should say something: About the fact they'd kissed, about the fact he kept thinking about her…

"Ron did a good job keeping Hugo distracted earlier,"Hermione remarked.

Harry understood the implication of the comment. Certain things were not to be discussed. "Yeah, he's good at things like that,"he confirmed. "Hugo takes after him a bit."

"Lily reminds me a bit of Ginny when she was that age,"Hermione returned. She sighed. "Whereas our older children…"

"…have got a bit more in common with us than's good for them,"Harry agreed. "But at least it means they can take care of themselves."

"I hope so,"Hermione replied. "I'd hate to think of them going through some of the things we went through. Or worse."

* * *

><p>When James heard footsteps outside the door, he was expecting to have food pushed through it again. So it was quite a shock when instead the door was flung open and two men descended the steps into their prison.<p>

Although the children had all encountered Death Eaters in the forest, they had been wearing masks at the time, so this was the first time they had a proper look at any of them. What they saw was two tall, grey-haired men, still wearing their robes but without the masks. One of them was lean with short hair and had a casual manner about him. The other was burly, with long hair tied back in a pony tail, and seemed to be permanently scowling at them.

"Which of you is the Potter boy?"the lean one asked.

James hesitated before answering. "I am."

"So am I,"Albus interjected.

"And me,"Martin claimed.

After a moment's hesitation, Scorpius opened his mouth but the thickset one shot him a look. "We already know who you are so don't bother,"he snapped. Scorpius looked puzzled.

"We know that two of you are Harry Potter's sons,"the lean Death Eater continued. "So obviously one of you three is lying."

His fellow gestured to Albus. "That one looks younger than the other two. He must be the younger one."

The lean one looked hard at James and Martin. "So which of you is a Potter?" With sudden, unexpected savagery, he grabbed James' head and turned it so their eyes met. Then he gave a satisfied nod. "It's him."

"You're sure?"the other one asked. "If we get it wrong…"

"It's him. Take my word for it." He favoured the children with a smile that made their blood run cold. "Don't worry. We won't keep you waiting long."

James wondered what it was exactly that the Death Eater had seen in his face. People were always saying that Albus resembled Harry but he'd always seemed to lack the traditional Potter characteristics.

Rose waited until the two Death Eaters had gone back up the steps and closed the door before speaking with a mixture of fear and excitement. "I know them! I've seen pictures of them! They were older but it was definitely them! They worked for the Ministry back when You Know Who was in power, they worked for him! The one that grabbed you is called Rookwood and the other one's Yaxley."

"So…we were right then?"Albus asked nervously. "These are You Know Who's old men?"

They all looked at each other. Somehow the confirmation that they were being held prisoner by Voldemort's old followers didn't bring them any comfort.

* * *

><p>For a moment, Harry didn't quite register what he was hearing. Then he sat bolt upright. He looked at Hermione. "Do you hear it too?"<p>

Hermione nodded. "A buzzing noise, like…like a burglar alarm or something." She shook her head as if in pain. "It's really loud."

The pair scrambled to their feet, whipping out their wands, as Ron, Neville and Draco came running out of the school. "You hear it?"Ron asked.

Harry and Hermione nodded. "There's someone in the forest,"Harry realised. "We need to get down there."

"Should we get help?"Neville wondered.

"There's time for that later,"Harry decided. "Move!"

They pelted towards the forest, the ringing in their head getting louder as they did so. Harry realised that in some strange way it was leading them to the right place, to where the intruders were.

When they first caught a glimpse of robed figures ahead of them, it took a few moments for them to realise what they were seeing, until suddenly curses started flashing over their heads. They dived for cover among the trees, loosing Stunning Spells in the direction of their opponents. Harry could hear Draco using every curse in his repertoire and appreciated the sentiment, these people had taken his sons, had taken so much more, he wanted to see them pay for that.

The robed figures were making a fighting retreat and Harry knew that if they got far enough away from their attackers then they would Apparate. He held his fire, seeing one of the group nearer to them than the others, and waited until the rest of the intruders were out of range.

"_Impedimenta_!"

Harry's Impediment Jinx struck the straggler, knocking him clean off his feet and causing him to crash heavily to the ground. By the time he could recover, five wands were surrounding him. The rest of the intruders had Apparated but Harry barely noticed as he stared at the sight he'd hoped to never see again, a figure in Death Eater robes. He reached out and snatched the Death Eater's mask off.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. One of the old guard. One of Voldemort's inner circle. Not this.

It was Lucian Bole, the Beater from the Slytherin Quidditch team when Harry was first at Hogwarts.

"You?"Harry demanded. "You're a Death Eater?"

"Wow, they must be really desperate,"Ron commented.

"You…you didn't serve Voldemort, did you?"Hermione asked in confusion.

Bole looked at each of them nervously. "No, I…They got in touch with me recently, said they were looking for people like me to help out with an important job."

"Numbskulls who like hitting people,"Ron translated under his breath.

"An important job?"Harry repeated. "Like killing my wife?"

"No, no, I had nothing to do with that,"Bole insisted. "Just searching the woods."

"And Professor McGonagall?"Neville asked.

"That wasn't me!"Bole protested.

"But what were they searching for?"Hermione wondered. She looked around her. "Harry, that night you confronted Voldemort, it wasn't here, wasn't it?"

"No, no, it was over that way,"Harry replied, gesturing. "But I'm sure I passed here that night, I seem to remember going this way…"

Bole suddenly seemed to notice that one of his old teammates was among his captors. "Draco! You know me, you know I wouldn't hurt anyone, tell them…"

Draco punched him full in the face before grabbing him by the collar. "Where's my son, Bole?"

"He's all right!"Bole replied placatingly. "They're all all right." He seemed to realise he had leverage. "I can take you to them. I can take you to where they're holding them."

"All right." Harry looked around the group. "Neville, get back to the school and tell people what's happened. Try and get a party ready to follow us if we get in touch."

"How come Longbottom gets that job?"Draco asked. "I can go."

"You can go too if you want but I need someone I can trust. So what is it, Draco? Stay or go?"

Draco found himself forced into a corner. "I'll go with you, of course,"he replied.

"Good." Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco all took hold of one of Bole's sleeves. "All right, Bole," Harry told him. "Show us what you can do."


	14. Chapter 14: The Enemy's Lair

**Thanks for the review. You may or may not notice this story getting a bit more fast paced from hereoin in. I wanted twenty chapters so what started off as the first seven became the first twelve but the last part is as I originally planned.**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Enemy's Lair<p>

The five of them appeared in a bare room. Their immediate impression was of a house that had been abandoned for some time. "See?"Bole asked. "I did it. I got you here."

"Yeah. You did." Harry pointed his wand at him without looking. "_Stupefy_, _incarcerous_." Bole slumped to the floor, unconscious and tied up.

"So where are we?"Ron asked.

"And where are the children?"Hermione interjected.

Draco nodded to Bole. "Not to mention his friends."

"I don't know,"Harry replied. "We need to have a look around." He went to a window and looked out. They were on an upper floor of a large house, he could see the sprawling grounds down below them. Then he paused, shock gripping him. "I know where we are."

The others stared at him, worried by the sudden change in his expression. "Where?"Hermione asked.

"We're at the Riddle mansion, where I saw Voldemort return, where he killed Cedric Diggory." Harry pointed to a spot down below them. "Right there. That's where it happened."

Ron swallowed slightly. "So if someone was planning to bring him back again…"

"They might appreciate the symbolism?"

Ron glanced at Draco. "Look on the bright side, Malfoy. You could ask him for a job."

"That's funny, Weasley. Managed to hex yourself lately?"

"We need to look around,"Harry repeated pointedly, stepping between them.

Hermione nodded, pointing. "We'll go this way." She led the way.

"Why this way?"Harry asked quietly as he fell into step next to her.

"I don't know, anything to stop them sniping at each other."

* * *

><p>Rookwood and two more Death Eaters descended the cellar steps. Rookwood gestured to James. "That one. Bring him." The other two robed figures grabbed hold of the boy and began dragging him up the steps.<p>

Albus ran forward as if to intervene. "Where are you taking him?"

Rookwood gave a flick of his wand and Albus was sent flying into the wall. "Quiet,"he snapped. "You'd better hope this works. If he doesn't pan out, you're our second choice."

"What are you going to do to him?"Martin asked.

"Don't know but it won't be pleasant."

"James!"Martin called after his friend as Rookwood followed the others out of the cellar. "Don't worry! We'll find you!"

Albus still sat slumped where he had been thrown. Rose and Scorpius crouched by him. "Are you all right?"Scorpius asked.

Albus was more angry than anything else. "Why are they doing this? What do they want?"

"I don't know but someone's got to find us soon, haven't they?"Rose asked. "They must have noticed we've gone."

Martin nodded. "Yeah, sure. They'll be looking for us right now."

* * *

><p>Harry's group had headed down the corridor, checking every door they came to, but they all seemed to lead into rooms as bare as the one where they had arrived. Harry pushed one open and had started to walk on when he stopped. "Wait."<p>

The other three stopped as well. "What is it?"Ron asked.

Harry stepped into the room. "An office. Maybe there's some sort of file here, evidence, information."

"Well, if Scorpius isn't in there, then who cares?"Draco retorted.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Show some sense, Malfoy. There could be a plan of the house or something."

"There's another door in here,"Harry noted. "Draco, you check down that way. Ron, you carry on the way we were going. Hermione and I will check the office. If you find anything, come back and get us."

The two nodded in agreement. Hermione joined Harry in looking through the various drawers in the office.

Harry found himself paying as much attention to her as to the search. When she was at the Ministry, and even at home, she had a tendency to wear her hair up in a bun, giving her a slightly severe look. But the past two days, since the children had gone missing, she'd started wearing it loose. It wasn't as long as it had been in their school days but she still looked a bit more like the girl he'd first met.

"It suits you,"he remarked.

She looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"Your hair. Like that. It suits you."

She looked away and he could swear he saw her blush. "Harry, stop flirting with me." Despite her words, he noticed she came to stand beside him, busying herself with searching the same area as him.

"Right,"he agreed. "Wrong time."

She sighed. "There isn't a right time. You know that."

"Okay, if you don't like it…"

She bit her lip. "I didn't say that."

He knew there was a hundred other more pressing things he should be thinking about. But if he didn't take the opportunity… "I enjoyed that kiss."

She abandoned all pretense of focusing on other things and looked at him. "Me too,"she admitted. "But we shouldn't…" She trailed off.

"Shouldn't?"he prompted her.

He was hoping she'd answer. But she leaned forward and kissed him, tentatively at first then with more confidence, putting her arms round him. He held her close, feeling the curve of her body as he tasted her mouth in his, melting in the embrace.

Then some sixth sense caused him to stop and look past her towards the doorway they'd come in by. Ron was standing there. Hermione seemed to sense it too since she turned and looked at him, shamefaced.

The guilt hit Harry like a punch in the stomach as he realised what he'd just done. He'd just kissed his best friend's wife. He struggled to come up with an excuse but his mouth couldn't form any words.

Ron just stood there. His wand was drawn and for a second Harry thought he might actually curse him with it. They had had a number of disagreements and fall-outs over the years but he had never seen Ron direct such a look of pure hatred at him.

Then Ron turned and stormed out and they heard the crack as he Apparated.

Harry looked at Hermione, unsure what to say. And at that moment Draco came back. "Corridor's a dead end both ways,"he told them. "Where's Weasley?"

Harry forced himself to tear his gaze away from Hermione. "He…he left."

"Couldn't hack it, eh?"

Harry shook his head, not wanting to get into this discussion. "We'll go and check the other way along that corridor."

"Harry!"

Hermione's shocked cry caused Harry to turn and look to his right. For one moment, he couldn't process what he was seeing. There was a doorway, leading to a flight of steps heading down. Standing in front of it were three men in Death Eater robes, their wands pointed at him and at Hermione and Draco. He recognised all three instantly: Two, Yaxley and Macnair, were Voldemort's old followers, the other, Marcus Flint, was the old Slytherin Quidditch captain, a friend of Bole's.

_There was another door_, Harry realised. _There was another door in this room, hidden by a glamour. And I didn't think to check._

Yaxley gestured with his wand. "This way, you three. There's someone who'd like to meet you."


	15. Chapter 15: Death Eaters Unmasked

**Thank you for the reviews, I like reading people's thoughts on this and it's nice that people who might not normally be Harry/Hermione fans are willing to come along for the ride.**

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><p>CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Death Eaters Unmasked<p>

The trio of Death Eaters directed Harry, Hermione and Draco down the steps and along a corridor. "In there,"Yaxley snapped.

They went through the door indicated and found themselves in a large hall. Facing them were another ten Death Eaters, all masked. Six of them reached up and removed the masks, revealing their faces. Harry recognised all of them: Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's parents; Rookwood; Crabbe, the father of one of Draco's old cronies; Thorfinn Rowle, one of the Death Eaters who had attacked him, Ron and Hermione in Tottenham Court Road; and Peregrine Derrick, another old friend of Flint and Bole.

Lucius seemed to be at the head of the party. He ignored his son, instead looking at the other two prisoners. "Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Two of the biggest thorns in our side. It seems apt you are here at this time, as everything we have planned for reaches its climax."

"I'm Hermione Weasley now,"Hermione corrected him, although even as she said it she wondered whether she actually had a claim to the name anymore, given the way Ron had looked at her when she last saw him.

Lucius sniffed dismissively. "You may carry the name of those blood traitors but there's no disguising the Muggle blood in your veins."

Draco had been staring in shock at his parents ever since they had unmasked but now he found his voice. "Mum! Dad! What are you doing here?"

Lucius looked at him for the first time. "What I've always done, Draco,"he said quietly. "Protecting our own kind."

"What about Scorpius? What's happened to him?"

"He's safe, Draco,"Narcissa assured him gently. "But given the company with which he arrived, it was felt necessary to keep him imprisoned for the moment."

Lucius shook his head sadly. "Really, Draco. The Potter boys? A half-blood Weasley girl? Are these the friends you and your wife allow your son to have?"

Draco looked uncertain, as if he'd been reduced to a boy again under his father's gaze. "We…we felt it was best he made his own mind up about his friends."

Lucius glared at Harry. "You see, Potter? You see what this new world of yours has done? Even my own family has become corrupted. Once, fathers would teach their children the truth about these matters! Teach them the right company to keep!"

Harry looked at him in disgust. "I should have known you'd be the one behind all this."

Lucius gave him an amused smile. "He thinks I am behind all this!"he called out to his companions. He was rewarded with a series of similarly amused looks and Harry realised he'd made a mistake. "I am merely the welcoming committee, Potter. We have a leader, a man of vision. A man who plans to restore the world as it was. I have spent these past twenty-one years watching as everything I hold sacred is destroyed. Once, wizards knew their duty. To continue the bloodlines, to keep our power. Now I see that corrupted. Your father was part of a noble line of wizards. But he married below his station and produced you."

"The wizard who defeated your Dark Lord,"Harry reminded him.

"Simple trickery,"Lucius retorted. "If a lion mauls a man to death, does that make it his intellectual superior? Then I learned of this group, pledged to restore the old ideals. Pledged to restore our people to power. We even found new blood, those who see the truth, who are not fooled by the propaganda your kind teach them."

Harry glanced at Flint and Derrick, unimpressed. "A bunch of numbskulls who cheat at Quidditch? Yeah, they're really going to make a good elite."

"Oh, you think that's all?" Lucius gestured to the two still masked figures on his far left and they removed their masks.

Harry stared at them in shock. One was Roger Davies, once captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. The other was Marietta Edgecombe, Cho's old friend. "You two?"he demanded. "How did you get mixed up in this?"

Roger shrugged. "I don't expect you to understand, Harry."

Marietta had no such hesitation in explaining herself. "Well maybe it's because of this,"she suggested angrily, pointing to the faint scar on her face, the only remaining trace of the jinx Hermione had placed on her for betraying Dumbledore's Army. "Scarred for life because you two were on a power trip! You think I'd want to be a part of anything you'd make?"

Hermione took a breath and for a second Harry thought she was going to apologise. But instead she stared at Marietta defiantly. "We were fighting for our lives!"she shouted back. "We were trying to find a way to stop Voldemort and you sold us out to Umbridge! Just because you lacked courage." Harry felt like cheering her.

"Courage?"Lucius repeated with that same smug, amused tone. "That's supposed to be a Gryffindor trait, isn't it?" He nodded to the two remaining masked figures.

They both removed their masks. One was Cormac McLaggen, the Gryffindor boy who had accompanied Hermione to Slughorn's Christmas party. The other was Romilda Vane, the girl who had tried to slip Harry a love potion.

"Wotcher, Potter,"Cormac greeted him, as though they were down a young gentleman's club. Romilda shot Harry a lustful look that made him feel sick.

"I think they're quite taken with you two still,"Lucius remarked. "Perhaps I should let them have you once we're concluded here. Romilda's getting quite good with her love potions. Making you their pets could be quite satisfying." He saw the disgusted look they gave each other. "You don't seem to like the idea. Or is it perhaps each other you're concerned about? Whatever would your husband say, Mrs. Weasley? Or your dear departed wife, Mr. Potter."

Harry took a step forward angrily but every wand in the room pointed at him. Hermione laid a warning hand on his arm and he stopped.

"And you, Draco?"Lucius asked. "Where do you stand in this? Are you with us or against us?"

"What's going to happen to Scorpius?"Draco returned.

"He will not be harmed."

"You'll release him?"

"Eventually, yes. If he sees the truth of things, it may even happen now."

"I can talk to him,"Draco insisted. "I can convince him."

"You'll be given that chance."

Draco stood up straight. "Then I'm with you."

Lucius nodded. "Give him back his wand."

"That wasn't what was agreed,"Yaxley protested.

"I was given responsibility for dealing with any intruders at this point,"Lucius reminded him. "And I say give him back his wand."

Glaring mutinously at him, Yaxley complied.

"Draco!"Hermione exclaimed, more in disgust than surprise.

Draco shrugged. "Sorry, Granger, but family's family. I only came here to get Scorpius back. Now I know he's safe, your brats can rot."

Before anyone could stop her, Hermione swung a fist that connected with his jaw, causing him to give a yelp of pain. "You're still a pathetic worm,"she snapped.

There was sniggering from some of the Death Eaters which Lucius quelled with a glare. "Take them away!"he ordered.

Harry and Hermione were marched out and this time Draco, falling into step with Yaxley and Rookwood, was among their captors.

* * *

><p>Martin, Albus, Rose and Scorpius felt their hopes soar when the door to the cellar opened to reveal their parents, only for them to sink again when they saw the armed Death Eaters behind them. The group descended the steps into the cellar.<p>

Draco went over to Scorpius and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, Scorpius,"he said gently.

"Dad, they've…"

Draco shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Your grandma and grandfather are here."

Scorpius seemed to register for the first time that his father, unlike Harry and Hermione, was still carrying a wand. "Dad, what's going on?"

"They're part of this,"Draco explained. "I only just found out. It's okay, these are our friends."

Scorpius looked at Yaxley and Rookwood and gave an involuntary shudder. "They're Death Eaters!"

"Don't believe what you've heard about them, Scorpius, it's all right. Come with me, you're free now."

Scorpius looked at the other three children and their parents. "What about Rose and the others?"

Draco hesitated for the first time. "They've got to stay here."

Scorpius' gaze seemed to rest on Rose for a moment, seeing the fear and confusion in her eyes, the worry that she might have misjudged him. Then he looked back at his father. "Then I'm staying too."

Draco looked as though he'd been slapped. "Scorpius…"

"They're my friends, Dad,"Scorpius insisted. "I'm staying."

"Come on, Malfoy!"Yaxley called. "If the boy wants to stay here, let him."

For a moment, Draco was torn between wanting to stay with his son and wanting to remain on good terms with his new allies. The latter won out. "I'll come back for you, Scorpius,"he promised. "You'll see I'm right." He followed the others out and the door locked behind them.


	16. Chapter 16: A Perilous Escape

**Thanks for the review. I did seriously consider having Draco side with Harry but I couldn't see him going against his parents and I thought it would have more impact if Scorpius was the one who made that choice.**

* * *

><p>CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A Perilous Escape<p>

Rose ran to her mother as soon as the prisoners were alone and Hermione gave her a comforting hug. Harry did the same for Albus, even though he could see his younger son was embarrassed by the action, and gave Martin a reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking over to Scorpius. "That was a very brave thing you just did,"he said quietly.

Scorpius shrugged. "I couldn't just leave you all locked in here and join the people that attacked us, could I?"

"You could. And some people would have done. It's the choices we make that are important." Harry turned to Albus and Martin. "Where's James?"

The two boys looked at each other nervously. "They took him away,"Albus admitted. "About half an hour ago."

"They said they needed him for something,"Martin added.

Harry felt a cold fear inside him. When the Malfoys had told them Scorpius was all right and then they'd found the other children unharmed, he'd assumed James was simply being held prisoner somewhere else. The idea that he might be in danger somewhere… He looked at Hermione. "We have to get out of here."

"Where's Dad?"Rose asked suddenly.

Hermione was thrown by the question, not sure how to answer. "Well, he _was_ here but he left before they found us."

"Then he's coming back to rescue us."

"We don't know, he doesn't even know that your Uncle Harry and I have been captured, he might be, well, waiting to hear from us…"

Rose shook her head. "He's coming back for us. He wouldn't leave me and the boys here, would he?"

"What about _my_ dad?"Martin interjected.

"We left him behind at Hogwarts,"Harry explained. "He was getting a group together to raid this place but we didn't get a chance to tell him where it was."

Rose rolled her eyes. "_Dad_ will tell them. They're probably on their way already."

Harry gave her a conciliatory look. "You're probably right but things will be a lot easier for them if we manage to escape before they get here, right?"

Rose seemed to consider this for a long time before giving a nod of agreement.

"But how do we get out of here?"Albus asked.

Hermione hurried up the steps to the door and checked it. "I don't think it's been sealed with a charm or anything. It's just been locked."

Martin didn't seem convinced. "Well, how does that help us?"

"Because they're Death Eaters,"Hermione replied. "Which means they've got a very narrow way of thinking. If you locked them in here without a wand, they'd be helpless because they're convinced you need magic to do things. They don't know that the Muggle world has its own way of dealing with problems." She reached into her pocket and removed one of the hairpins she normally used to tie her hair back. Then she knelt down by the door and began experimentally touching the lock with it.

Harry went over to her, looking down at her with a mixture of admiration and bemusement. "When did you learn to pick a lock with a hairpin?"

Hermione smiled at him. "Well, being friends with you I soon realised certain skills could come in useful."

Harry left her to get on with her work, descending the steps and going back over to Scorpius. "Scorpius, if we get out of here and we run into your family, we're going to have to fight with them. Are you okay with that? Because if you're not, I need to know."

He saw the conflict in the boy's face as he struggled to decide between what he knew was right and his loyalty to the people who had loved him and raised him. Harry sympathised. He didn't know what he'd have done if faced with a similar choice. "I don't want you to hurt them,"Scorpius said at last.

"We'll try not to,"Harry replied. "But if they find out about us escaping, they'll try and stop us. We're not on the same side here."

Rose went over to Scorpius and put an arm round him. "He'll be okay, Uncle Harry,"she said. "I'll make sure of it."

Harry accepted her reassurance on her friend's behalf. Something told him that Rose was the best way of making sure where Scorpius' loyalty was.

"Harry!"Hermione called quietly. "It's open."

* * *

><p>Harry and Hermione were the first to emerge cautiously from the cellar. Harry motioned for her to stay still and listened. He could hear footsteps approaching.<p>

"How many?"Hermione asked.

"Two,"Harry realised. "One each. Guess we're going to have to do it the Muggle way. You learn self-defence in addition to lockpicking?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Well, I guess we'll have to hope they don't know much about it either."

They crept towards the place where the footsteps were coming from and waited just around a corner. The footsteps got louder and then Rookwood and Yaxley appeared. Shock registered on their faces as they saw two of the prisoners they'd been going to check on free and standing in front of them.

Before they could get over the shock, Harry shoulderbarged Yaxley, knocking him into the wall. Hermione elbowed Rookwood in the stomach and managed to wrestle his wand from his hand and point it at him. "_Petrificus totalus_!" The Body-Bind Curse hit Rookwood and he toppled to the floor.

Harry continued to struggle with Yaxley, slamming the older man against the wall again and again until he lost his grip on his wand. Harry snatched it up and aimed it at its owner. "_Stupefy_!" Yaxley slumped unconscious.

Hermione crouched down in front of the paralysed Rookwood. Harry had a sudden flash of concern, a gut feeling telling him she was about to do something stupid. "Hermione, what..?"

"He was looking after the prisoners,"Hermione reminded him. "If anyone knows where James was taken, it's him."

"Yeah but he can't tell us now."

"But he's still conscious,"Hermione replied. "Which mean I can do this. _Legilimens_!"

Harry's eyes widened in horror, as he remembered the flood of images he'd received when he turned Snape's spell back on him, all his worst memories. He saw Hermione flinch at the inrush of thoughts from Rookwood. "Hermione, stop it!"he shouted.

"It's all right,"she gasped. "I…I can see James. They're dragging him along corridors, taking him somewhere. Some sort of laboratory. There's a man there, I can't see his face. He's tying him up… I think he's got a knife!" She broke the link, breathing heavily.

"Could you find that room?"Harry asked.

Hermione nodded. "I think so."

Harry paused, thinking. Every father's instinct he had told him to go after James, to rescue his son from whatever was being done to him. But he forced himself to remember there were four other children that he also had a responsibility for and that didn't mean dragging them into the heart of the danger. "Then we'll go there after we've got them to safety,"he decided. He looked back at where Albus and the others were hovering near the door of the cellar that had been their prison. "Right, you lot. Come with us."

* * *

><p>Harry pushed a door open at random and found himself in what appeared to be some sort of cloakroom. Presumably the Death Eaters who still had places in society kept their civillian clothes here if they needed a quick change. There were various boots on the floor and Harry picked up one and settled it on a ledge, giving it a firm tap with the wand he'd got off Yaxley. "<em>Portus<em>." The boot began to give off the glow of a portkey.

"Are we leaving?"Rose asked.

Harry glanced at Hermione. "You are,"he told his niece. "We're not."

"Now hang on,"Albus protested. "We started all this, we found the Death Eaters. We want to stay and help."

"You've done very well,"Harry agreed. "We wouldn't have found this place without you. But we need to help James and we won't be able to do that if we're worrying about you."

He thought Albus might argue but he seemed to see the truth of his father's words. "Okay."

"It's going to take you back to Hogwarts,"Harry continued. "Once you're there, I want you to tell Professor Longbottom or Professor Macmillan where we are. No-one else." He thought he could trust Slughorn, Flitwick and the rest of the teachers but if even the gentlemanly Roger Davies was a Death Eater, anyone could be. He couldn't afford to let any information end up being heard by the wrong ears.

Albus looked at his three friends. "Okay, let's do this." He, Martin, Rose and Scorpius touched the portkey…and it and they vanished.

Harry looked at Hermione. "Looks like it's just the two of us then."

She gave a rueful smile. "Just like old times."

They turned towards the door…and found themselves face to face with Rowle.

He pointed his wand at them and gave a smile that made their blood turn cold. "Well, well. Lucky for me, unlucky for you. Killed while trying to escape."


	17. Chapter 17: The Resurrection Movement

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Resurrection Movement

Harry knew from the way Rowle was looking at them that there was going to be no being locked in a cellar this time. He was going to kill them, whether he had permission to do so or not. There was no point Harry or Hermione trying to use their borrowed wands, he could unleash a Killing Curse at any time. He was just savouring the moment.

Without looking, Harry gripped Hermione's hand and felt her squeeze his in return. Another person he hadn't been able to protect. All he could do was offer her that small comfort in their last moments, make sure she died knowing she was l…

"_Stupefy_!"

The spell hit Rowle in the back. His eyes widened for a second and then he pitched forward, unconscious.

Harry and Hermione gaped in astonishment as they saw Ron standing behind him. They were even more astonished when he stepped into the room and was followed by Neville, Luna, Seamus and Dean.

Oddly, the first thought Harry had was whether Ron had seen him holding Hermione's hand.

"I got in touch with Grimmauld Place as soon as you left,"Neville explained. "Got them to assemble as many of the Order as they could."

"We hadn't managed to get hold of everyone when Ron turned up and told us where you were," Seamus continued.

"We left Gabrielle trying to contact Oliver and the others,"Dean interjected. "Then the rest of us came here."

"There was a large group of Death Eaters in the main hall,"Ron added. "We left Bill and most of our group fighting them and came looking for you."

Harry noticed Ron's measured tone, the way he was struggling to hide the emotions he must be feeling and concentrate on the matter in hand. Sooner or later they'd have to have a chat but for now Harry did the same. "Did you speak to Rose?"

Ron looked concerned. "You haven't found her?"

"You must have passed her,"Hermione realised. "We sent them back to Hogwarts: Her, Albus, Martin and Scorpius."

"James is still missing though,"Harry continued. "And from what Martin and Albus told us, what's happening to him is a big part of what's going on here. Hermione knows where he is."

Ron nodded. "Lead on then. By the way, what happened to Malfoy?"

"Turns out his parents were with the Death Eaters so he joined up with them."

"Typical."

Luna was staring hard at the unconscious Rowle. "That's Aubrey Rhodes."

Neville looked at her in bemusement. "Who?"

"Aubrey Rhodes. He's the Ministry official in charge of making sure that all the Aurors get to a safehouse if the minotaurs ever declare war on us."

"I think it's Thorfinn Rowle."

Luna shook her head. "No, he underwent a transfiguration to make himself look like Thorfinn Rowle. It's all a plan to confuse us."

"I think it's worked."

* * *

><p>Using the memories she'd taken from Rookwood, Hermione led the group through the lower levels, down a series of long corridors. When they reached a point where there was an intersection, with another corridor coming across the one they were using in a straight line to form a kind of crossroad, Harry gestured for them to stop. "How much further?"<p>

"Not far,"Hermione answered. "You just go down there, turn left and it's ahead of you."

"Are there any corridors leading off it?"

"I don't think so."

"Then if anyone's going to follow us, they have to come this way." Harry turned to his friends. "I'm going on alone. Ron, I want you and the others to defend this position. Make sure no-one comes down after me."

Ron nodded. "Okay. Good luck, Harry."

It was a simple sentiment but Harry appreciated how hard it was for his old friend to express it. He nodded and then carried on.

Hermione found herself without Harry for the first time since Ron had walked in on them. She looked at her husband. "I wasn't sure if you were coming back,"she admitted.

"Neither was I,"he answered. "Funny, isn't it?" For a second, he almost smiled but then he turned away from her. "Okay, if someone comes from ahead of us, Harry will encounter them first. So Seamus and I are going to watch the way we came. Neville, you and Hermione watch the corridor on our left and Luna and Dean take the one on our right."

* * *

><p>The door was there, just as Hermione had said. Harry held his wand at the ready and pushed it open. He burst in, ready for action but what he saw pulled him up short. James was bound to some sort of upright stand, his arms spread out like a sacrifice. And a thickset man in Death Eater robes was holding a knife to his throat.<p>

"Put the wand down, Potter,"he instructed. "I don't want to bleed the boy too soon."

Harry did as instructed, throwing the wand to the man. This, he realised, was the true mastermind behind the operation. He'd seen him before, he knew he had, but he couldn't quite put a name to the face, one of many he'd seen at the Department of Mysteries, during the attack on Hogwarts, on wanted posters…

"You don't remember me, do you, Potter?"he asked, as if reading Harry's mind. "I suppose you meet so many Death Eaters one has to be really impressive to stand out from the crowd. Like my wife."

And then Harry remembered. The memories of the Death Eater trials he'd seen in Dumbledore's pensieve. Bellatrix Lestrange, boasting about torturing Neville's parents, swearing her loyalty to her fallen lord. And the man stood next to her, agreeing with every word. The man Harry had once heard Voldemort name among his most loyal followers.

"Rodolphus Lestrange,"he said quietly.

Rodolphus nodded. "I often wondered if this moment would come. The long years after my lord fell. The long years I dedicated to bringing about his return."

"You really think they can do that? No-one can come back from the dead."

"And no-one can survive a Killing Curse. Except you. Do you know what they call you? The Master of Death. I knew the phrase was familiar but it took me a long time to realise where from. The most simple thing of all. A children's story. The Three Brothers. It was such a small hope to form an idea around but after all these years I was desperate. I began to gather those who believed in the Dark Lord's vision around me and together we sought out those who could give us more information."

"The disappearances,"Harry realised. "It _was_ you. Miranda Bloggs, Silas Merriweather, Jeremiah Obeney… Where are they?"

"Close by. But I can't remember quite where we buried them. They gave up their information before they died. Merriweather was the first. A believer in the Deathly Hallows. Three artifacts which when combined would make their owner the Master of Death. An invincible wand? We all know you were the master of one of those. An invisibility cloak would explain much. But _a stone that could call back those death had taken_. Could you have possessed such a thing? If you did, I knew that you would never have held on to it. You were always too weak to seek power. You would have disposed of it. But when? And so I needed someone who knew more than I about the day of the Dark Lord's downfall."

"Miranda Bloggs, the historian,"Harry realised. "You had Rookwood marry her and then bring her to you."

"He can be quite charming to a middle-aged spinster. She knew more about that day than even you, she'd studied it for years, spoke to every witness, read every acount. I knew from speaking to her that there were only two places you could have discarded the stone: In Hogwarts itself or in the forest. We searched Hogwarts first but found no sign. So we began combing the forest. A laborious task, taking many weeks. But this very night, we found it."

With a flourish, he gestured to a plinth next to the bound and terrified James. Harry struggled not to react. Resting on it was the Resurrection Stone. "Even if you use that to call back Voldemort, it won't be him,"he protested. "It will just be a ghost, a spirit. He won't have any substance."

Rodolphus nodded. "I surmised as much. But not just a ghost, Potter. A _soul_. A soul that, if it had a body, could live again."

"So you went after Obeney,"Harry realised. "The necromancer."

Rodolphus sighed. "A great disappointment. He had nothing but a few vague theories and fruitless lines of research. But then we found someone who provided us with far more useful information. Your wife."

"Ginny?"Harry asked, astonished. "But I thought…"

"You thought I killed her simply to upset you? That was just a bonus. She gave us something far more precious. You witnessed the report of her death, you know Avada Kedavra was not the only spell I cast."

Harry looked at James, who had been too scared to utter a word since he'd come in. He'd wanted to spare him the full story of what his mother went through. "She…she was subjected to the Imperius Curse."

"And Cruciatus,"Rodolphus concluded. "Why use one Unforgiveable Curse when you can use all three? It always helps to get someone's attention. Add a little veritaserum and she told me everything I needed to know. How twenty-six years ago she was possessed by a fragment of the Dark Lord's soul. How it attempted to drain the life and soul from her, how it nearly gained life again…until your interference. Proof that a spirit could become solid with the aid of a sacrifice. I disposed of her and that pathetic vermin that tried to stop me once I'd done. My brother was searching the woods at the time, he cast the Dark Lord's mark so you would know who was responsible."

"You didn't have to kill her,"Harry protested. "You could have just wiped her memories."

"True. But it would have been just as much effort for no real gain. And now providence has placed another gift in my lap." He looked at James. "The firstborn of two people who carried a part of the Dark Lord's soul. If anyone's life and soul will restore him, it will be his." Rodolphus reached out to touch the Resurrection Stone.

Harry took a step forward. "Lestrange, don't!"

Rodolphus turned on him, a wand in his hand and pointing at him. "_Crucio_!"

Harry was blasted to the ground by the curse, his body feeling like it was on fire. He could hear James, fear giving him voice just as it had taken it from him, screaming for Rodolphus to stop, and for one horrible minute he thought Rodolphus would torture him to death in front of his son. But then Rodolphus stopped and Harry could feel the pain subside.

"Take care, Potter,"he snarled. "I will let you watch, not interfere. Another wrong move and you will go the same way as your wife. Or perhaps you'd like your son to feel the pain of Cruciatus. I need him alive, not sane."

Harry said nothing, just getting to his feet and standing still. Without a wand, he couldn't risk trying anything else.

Rodolphus grasped the stone.

Harry wasn't sure that he saw him appear. He was just suddenly there, the eyes of his spectral presence boaring into him just as they had in life.

He was staring into the face of Lord Voldemort.


	18. Chapter 18: Lord Voldemort

**Thanks for the reviews!**

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><p>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Lord Voldemort<p>

Although they were unaware of what was going on in the laboratory, Harry's friends had problems of their own. All three of the corridors they were defending had come under attack from Death Eaters and they were consequently too busy fighting to worry about what was happening elsewhere.

Neville and Hermione had been confronted by Derrick, who Neville was presently duelling with. Hermione was torn between wanting to help her friend and the need to keep a watch in case anyone else appeared. Then she saw a approaching from further down the corridor. Draco. He seemed to hesitate for a moment then fired off a curse in her direction. Hermione dodged it and aimed her own wand. "_Fodio_!" The hex caught Draco a glancing blow on the arm and he let out a yell of pain, then he turned on her with a bestial snarl.

"_Crucio_!"

Hermione was slammed onto her back by the curse, screaming in agony. The pain was almost unbearable, memories of Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco's aunt, torturing her at the Malfoy mansion springing to mind, and Draco kept pouring more and more pain into her body.

"Do you feel that, Granger?"he was screaming, sounding almost hysterical. "Does that hurt? That's for all the times you and Potter made me feel small! All the times you thought you were better than me! Because you're wrong! I'm better! You hear me? I'm better! Wargh!"

The last shout came as the wall next to him exploded. Neville had overcome Derrick and fired a Blasting Charm at him, causing him to lose the eye contact needed to maintain the curse. Hermione felt her hand grip around her fallen wand and sat bolt upright, aiming it at her opponent.

"_Locomotor mortis_! _Entomorphis_! _Fernanculus_! _Mutatio skullus_!" She fired every hex, jinx and curse she could think of at him, not giving him a chance to defend himself, until eventually Draco was reduced to a jelly-like blob lying motionless on the floor. "_My name – is Hermione – Weasley_!"she shouted at him. And she couldn't help smiling that of all the things he'd said in his rant, that was what she picked up on.

Neville shot her a sideways look. "Remind me never to get on your wrong side."

Ron was duelling Lucius Malfoy, both of them flinging spells that the other managed to deflect. "How like a Weasley to defend the weak,"Lucius sneered.

"And how like a Malfoy to choose the losing side,"Ron retorted. He fired off a Stunning Spell that got under Lucius' guard and saw him drop unconscious to the floor. He looked round and saw Seamus under attack from Narcissa. All he was managing to do was generate a Shield Charm to ward off her curses and any moment now she might choose one too strong for him to deflect. Ron aimed his wand at her. "_Immobulus_!"he snapped and she was frozen in place.

Seamus breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, mate."

Luna and Dean were guarding their own approach when they saw Romilda coming. Dean stepped forward but Luna stepped in front of him. Accepting the challenge, Romilda fired off a series of curses at her. Luna deflected them with ease, watching Romilda get more and more frustrated, then hit her with a Stinging Hex before finishing her off with a Stunning Spell. "It's a shame you were so vain,"she remarked sadly. "If you weren't, you might not have caught narcephalus."

Dean looked at her. "Narcephalus?"

Luna nodded. "It makes us do thing we know we shouldn't. I think we all catch it from time to time."

Then, without warning, another curse shot down the corridor at them.

* * *

><p>The group of Death Eaters in the main hall had been led by Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus' brother. The combatants had taken refuge behind overturned tables. Rabastan, Crabbe and Macnair were behind one, exchanging spells with Bill, Fleur, Percy, George, Teddy and Victoire. To the right of the older Death Eaters, behind another table, were Roger, Cormac and Marietta, involved in their own battle with Ernie, Hannah, Justin and Susan.<p>

Fleur glanced over to her left. There was an opening there, leading to a corridor. If someone could position themselves at the opening, they might have a better line of fire for the hall. "Cover me,"she told her family and ran for it.

The others began deflecting the Death Eaters' spells away from her but as Fleur ran for the opening she suddenly pulled up short. Roger had had the same idea, somehow using a side corridor to loop round behind them, and was standing in the opening, his wand aimed at her. She realised she had no chance of defending herself. Surrender was her only option. She lowered her wand.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

Roger's curse struck Fleur squarely in the chest. She only had a second for surprise to register on her face, then she crumpled to the floor.

Bill let out a roar of rage. He fired a spell in Roger's direction but he had already ducked back down the corridor out of sight. Crazed with anger and grief, Bill leapt over their barrier and began charging at the Death Eaters in front of him, firing off spells as he went.

"Bill, don't!"Percy shouted desperately.

None of Bill's blasts came anywhere near connecting with their target. Rabastan poked his head over the barrier and fired a single Killing Curse. Bill was struck down before he'd even made it halfway across the floor. He crashed to the floor, as dead as his wife.

Percy stood up.

"Percy, no!"George cried, fearing his whole family were about to die in front of him. But Percy didn't leap over the barrier. Instead, he aimed his wand at the wall above the Death Eaters' heads.

"_REDUCTO_!"

The wall exploded, blasting huge chunks of masonry loose. They crashed down on where Rabastan, Crabbe and Macnair were crouching, burying them and crushing them to death.

Ernie's group were aware that their own opponents seemed to be firing less spells now. But then they found out why. Marietta, taking the same route that Roger had done, emerged from the corridor just behind them.

Hannah sprang up, counting on her friends to cover her back. She fired off a Stunning Spell that Marietta deflected. The two witches exchanged spells, them Marietta managed to hit Hannah with a Disarming Charm. It knocked her wand from her hand and sent her skidding across the floor. Marietta prepared to fire another spell at her.

Ernie jumped between them, blocking Marietta's spell. He managed to hit her with an Impediment Jinx, knocking her back. Looking angered, she returned with a Leg Locker Curse, then blasted his wand from his hand with a Disarming Charm. Once more, her wand pointed at a helpless opponent.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

* * *

><p>Harry looked hard into the face he'd hoped never to see again. He knew this wasn't a true physical Voldemort, merely an echo of him called back from beyond life, but somehow he still remained physically imposing.<p>

Rodolphus dropped to his knees in front of his master. "My lord."

"Rodolphus,"Voldemort returned. "Why have you brought me back here? You know this is not a true resurrection."

"I have a plan, my lord,"Rodolphus explained, scrambling to his feet and gesturing to the bound James. "James Potter. One of your Horcruxes once drained the life from his mother. I thought perhaps a sacrifice…"

"Ah!" Voldemort peered at James closely, causing the boy to look away from him in terror. "Yes. Yes, that could work. But it would take more than a simple blood letting. I would need to break down the barriers of his mind, bend his will to mine, until he chooses to give up his life so Voldemort might live. The process would be long but all the more pleasurable for it."

Rodolphus nodded. "As you wish, my lord."

"One question though." Voldemort turned to look at his old enemy. "What is Harry Potter doing here?"

Harry looked at him defiantly. "I'm here at the head of an army,"he replied. "The Order of the Phoenix are attacking this building. They'll be here any minute."

Voldemort turned on his servant angrily. "You fool, Rodolphus!"he roared. "You bring me back so I may be defeated? It is a work of months to corrupt this boy, yet you expect me to accomplish it in minutes!"

"I…I acted prematurely, my lord,"Rodolphus admitted. "But we have the boy and the stone. I can remove both to a safe place and then summon you again."

Voldemort became even more angry at the comment. "You betray your true intentions, Rodolphus! You seek power for yourself! And you will turn me into your pet, your puppet, to achieve it!"

"No, no,"Rodolphus protested. "I seek only to serve you. Whether as a spirit or a physical being, your word is law. We will obey your commands. I will prove it to you, I will kill Harry Potter for you!" He aimed his wand at Harry.

"No,"Voldemort replied quietly. "That is a pleasure I reserve for myself. You will perform another task to prove your loyalty. Kill _yourself_, Rodolphus."

Rodolphus looked at him in shock. "My lord?"

"If my word is law, if you will obey my every command…obey this one."

Fear and horror spread across Rodolphus' face…then he grabbed the knife he had intended to bleed James with and plunged it into his own chest.

Even though the man had murdered Ginny, had brought death and suffering to so many people, Harry couldn't help feeling disgust at Voldemort's casual attitude towards the lives of his servants. Voldemort threw back his head and laughed, the most terrible sound Harry had ever heard. "You see, Potter!"he cried. "Even in death, my followers are faithful to me! Whether as a spirit or as a mortal, I will see your world torn down around you and the elite restored to power!"

Harry looked long and hard at him…and then the corners of his lips upturned into a smile. "No."

Voldemort smiled indulgently. "No what?"

"You still don't get it, do you, Riddle? Even after all this time."

"What?"

"Love."

Voldemort sneered dismissively. "Like Dumbledore, you attach too much importance to that concept."

"So should you, Riddle. It's the reason you're here. You see, in his own twisted way, Rodolphus Lestrange loved you. He needed you to give his life meaning. That's why the Resurrection Stone brought you back for him. But he's gone now. You killed him. And there's no-one left here that loves you, Riddle. James?" Harry turned to his son. The enchanted ropes binding him had vanished with their caster's death but he remained frozen in place. "James, look at him."

James forced himself to look back at Voldemort. "Is that…really…You Know..?"

"Call him Voldemort, James,"Harry snapped.

James looked terrified. "…Voldemort?"he managed. Voldemort snarled in rage, causing him to flinch back.

"James." Harry kept his tone level, reassuring. "Touch the stone."

"Do it, boy, and you die!"Voldemort roared.

"Touch the stone, James!"Harry repeated.

James reached out and touched the stone.

Harry had known what would happen. Maybe that was why he hadn't been able to bring himself to touch the stone himself. But suddenly there she was in front of them.

Ginny.

James stared at her in awe. "Mum?"

Ginny smiled at him and reached out a hand to touch his face. Harry had a fleeting memory of the first time he'd seen his mother, an insubstantial image in the Mirror of Erised. And even though he knew Ginny couldn't really be touching him, it seemed like James could feel her there anywhere. "You've been a very brave boy, James,"she said softly. "And you're going to be a great wizard. The heir of the House of Potter. And I'm sorry I can't be there with you, to see it."

There were tears in James' eyes. "I miss you, Mum."

"I know you do, James. But I'll always be here and I'll always be proud of you." She pressed her lips to his forehead. Then she turned and walked over to Harry. She placed a hand on his chest and he felt a warm feeling spread over it. "There's someone else in your heart,"she said kindly.

Harry felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. There's room enough in your heart for both of us. You deserve to be happy and so does she."

Harry was shocked. "What about Ron?"

"Will he be happy if she isn't? Be happy, Harry. And as for _you_!" She turned towards Voldemort and her expression was so fierce he actually took a step backwards.

"Keep away from me,"he snarled.

Ginny shook her head. "It's time for you to stop hurting the people I love."

Slowly she walked towards him and, as she did so, a white glow seemed to envelop them, Voldemort's face contorted in impotent fury, Ginny's resolute and determined. There was a blinding flash…and when it cleared they were both gone.


	19. Chapter 19: Counting the Cost

CHAPTER NINETEEN:Counting the Cost

Roger wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been running. He just knew he had to keep going. He was certain the other Death Eaters were all either dead or captured and had no desire to be a martyr or to fight to the last. He just wanted to get out of there.

There was a crack and Victoire Apparated into the corridor in front of him. It occurred to Roger that he probably should have done the same but in his panic he hadn't thought of it. She blasted his wand out of his hand with a Disarming Charm then hit him with a Leg Locker Curse. He fell to his knees as she advanced on him, wand raised.

"No, wait!"he cried desperately. "I can explain."

"I'll explain for you,"Victoire suggested, walking towards him as she spoke. "You were my mother's date to the Yule Ball, when she competed in the Triwizard Tournament. Afterwards, she spent the night with you. Then, a few weeks later, she met my father and cast you aside. She told me all this herself, we were very close. You had been the lover of a Veela and then lost her. And you couldn't cope with it. You became angry, you began to resent and finally hate her. And so you killed her."

Roger felt a glimmer of hope. "Then…you understand?"

"Yes. I understand. And so I'm going to be more generous to you than you were to her." She leaned forward, looked him in the eye and gave a smile so devoid of warmth that all his hope died instantly. "I'm going to let you beg for mercy."

* * *

><p>Harry had his arm around James' shoulder as he led his son back to the intersection where he'd left his friends. He could see them standing together, with a group of overpowered Death Eaters tied up in a corner: Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, plus Flint, Derrick and Romilda. As he got closer, he saw a body lying on the floor in front of them.<p>

Dean. Dean was dead.

Hermione saw the pair and ran over to them, throwing her arms around Harry. As Harry returned the hug, he noticed she was shaking. Something had happened to her, he realised. She had mental scars that only someone who knew her well would notice. He resolved to ask her about it later.

He saw Ron looking at them. He seemed more sad than angry, the expression of someone who knew he'd lost. "Is everything all right back there?"he asked.

Harry extricated himself from Hermione but kept an arm round her waist, his other arm still around James. "There's no-one back there that can hurt us." He looked down at Dean. "Who did this?"

Ron nodded towards their captives. "Flint."

Harry looked into the Death Eater's face and Flint smirked, not showing a flicker of remorse. "It's times like this that I wish we still used Dementors."

"Harry, we haven't heard anything from the group we left in the hall,"Luna interjected. "We're very worried."

"We thought that Bill or Percy or Ernie would have sent word by now,"Neville explained. "We thought about going to check but we didn't want to leave here until we knew you were all right."

Harry nodded. "Let's go now."

James eyed the captive Death Eaters cautiously. "What about them?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Seamus?"

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Stay here on guard. If any of them so much as look at you wrongly, you've got my permission to use any spell on them you like."

Seamus glared hard at Flint…who suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself.

* * *

><p>Harry led the way to the main hall, holding onto James and Hermione as if he was afraid something would happen to them if he let go. Ron, Neville and Luna followed.<p>

There was no sound at all as they approached the hall. When they got there, they found out why. The Death Eaters killed by the rockfall had been dug out and placed near where they'd fallen. At the other end of the hall were laid the members of the Order killed in the battle: Bill, Fleur, Susan and Justin.

Harry heard Ron let out a gasp of horror. Percy, George, Teddy and Victoire looked up at the sound. Ron's two brothers went over to him, hugging him in a silent solidarity.

Neville and Luna went over to Ernie and Hannah, who were sitting quietly by the bodies of their two friends. Neville put an arm round Hannah while Luna placed a hand on Ernie's shoulder. "Marietta fired the Killing Curse at me,"Ernie explained. "But Susan threw herself in the way. Justin managed to stun her but no-one was watching his back and…that's when Cormac got him."

Harry glanced over at the corner where Roger, Marietta and Cormac lay slumped. They looked as though they'd been hit with more Stunning Spells than was strictly necessary but he couldn't bring himself to criticise anyone for it. He'd been at school with all of them, known them when they were the same age James was now. He hadn't envisaged any of them growing up to be murderers.

"How did they end up like this?"he wondered.

Hermione looked equally bewildered. "I was half expecting Zacharias Smith to turn up."

"A Hufflepuff become a Dark Wizard?" Ernie almost managed a smile. "Unthinkable."

* * *

><p>A team of Aurors had come to the manor to take the surviving Death Eaters into custody and retrieve the bodies of those killed in the battle. Kingsley had been with them and made it clear to Harry that he was expecting a full report from him in the not too distant future. Harry also wanted to visit Dean, Justin and Susan's families at one point, to let them know how they had died and offer his condolences. For now though, Kingsley had given him a week off to recuperate.<p>

Most of the surviving Order members had travelled to Hogwarts. They were relieved to learn that Martin, Albus, Rose and Scorpius had arrived there safe and well but, as per Harry's instructions, on finding Neville and Ernie gone they had refused to tell anyone where they'd been. They were pleased to have their wands returned to them: They had been retrieved from the mansion along with Harry, Hermione and James' wands.

Harry found himself wandering aimlessly through the corridors of his old school. He'd seen Teddy and Victoire in one of the courtyards, holding each other silently, and left them to it, knowing they needed their privacy. Victoire had lost both her parents within moments of each other, just as both Teddy's parents had died in the last battle with Voldemort. He was probably the best person to help her. At least she'd had the first twenty years of her life with them, had many happy memories. Harry thought the same about his own children, having to complete their childhood without Ginny. It wasn't fair on any of them but both he and Teddy would swap places with them in a heartbeat.

He noticed James sitting on his own in one of the cloisters and silently walked over and sat down beside him. It had always been one of his biggest regrets that, even though he loved him just as much, he'd never been as close to James as he was to his other children. Albus reminded Harry of himself while Lily took after Ginny. But James…the teachers who were still at Hogwarts from Harry's parents' time had often noted that he was well-named, sharing the traits of his grandfather and namesake: He was boisterous and arrogant and sometimes took pranks too far, all of it tempered with a fierce loyalty to the people he cared about. But after their shared experience in the laboratory, Harry felt as close to his eldest son as he'd ever felt to anyone.

James was looking at Rose and Scorpius, who were sat further along the corridor. They were holding hands and talking in hushed tones. "What'll happen to him?"he asked.

It took Harry a moment to realise he meant Scorpius. "He'll carry on living with his mother,"he replied. "Hopefully she'll make better choices than his father did."

As they watched, Scorpius' mother stepped out of the office where she'd been talking with Slughorn and called to him. Rose and Scorpius got up and shared a hug before he went scurrying off. Harry had the oddest feeling he was witnessing the beginning of a romance.

James was talking again. "I knew that people used to think like that back in the old days, during the war. All that stuff about purebloods being better than everyone and how they should rule. But I didn't think it could happen now. And not just old people but people your age."

Harry nodded sadly. "I thought it was over too."

"Hard to see much hope for us."

Harry looked at his son kindly. "Well…actually, I think Scorpius is that hope. He could have sided with them, could have chosen the same path his father and his grandfather did. But he didn't. He saw that the new world was better than the old one, he broke the cycle, chose to be his own person. You did a good thing involving him." Quietly, Harry couldn't help thinking of Draco, of that arrogant young bully he'd first met all those years ago. Might he have chosen a different path if Harry had offered him friendship? Or was he already too well indoctrinated with his family's pureblood ideology? Neville had told him how Draco had used Cruciatus on Hermione but, however much he hated him for it, he couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him as well.

James gave an awkward shrug. "To be honest, that was mostly down to Rose. I wanted him to get lost." He was quiet for a long while before asking,"Voldemort is gone, isn't he?"

Harry smiled at his son's use of the name. Things _were_ changing. "Voldemort was never a match for a mother's love."

"Do you love Auntie Hermione?"

The question took Harry by surprise, not least because he'd been asking himself the same thing for several days. "What makes you say that?"

"What Mum said and…the way you are with her." James saw Harry's puzzled look and went on. "Because…all the time we were there, I kept thinking about Emily, how much I wanted her to be with me. I just wanted her to hold my hand and tell me it'd be all right."

Harry's mind drifted back to the night Dumbledore had died. The way Ginny had held him and stayed with him and made him feel a little bit better. And then after Ginny's funeral, Hermione had refused to leave his side, had held him in his grief. He knew that both times he wouldn't have let anyone else be close to him like that. And he understood now that look on Ron's face when he'd come back from the laboratory. Hermione had been attacked, tortured and seen one of her friends killed…and it had been him, Harry, not Ron, that she'd run to. Sometimes the most important choices were the ones you didn't even know you were making.

Harry said none of that to James. Instead he just smiled at him. "Emily Longbottom? Your best friend's younger sister? Guess you do take after me."

James looked embarrassed. "Well, she's got a nice face and that blonde hair…"

"She gets that from her mother."

"And she's kind and she…"

"James?"a voice interrupted.

The two Potters looked up to see Emily standing a few feet away, just out of earshot. Harry nudged James. "Go on, son."

James got up unsteadily and walked over to her. "James, I was so worried,"Emily was saying. "When you vanished and then when the others came back without you…"

James threw his arms round her and hugged her. Emily looked shocked but far from displeased. After a moment, she returned the hug. The two of them stood there, holding each other, no words necessary.

"That's my boy,"Harry said quietly. He got up and walked away, leaving them to it. He had things to sort out for himself. Things that were a lot more complicated.


	20. Chapter 20: New Beginnings

CHAPTER TWENTY:New Beginnings

Hermione found Ron sitting in the quadrangle. He looked so forlorn that part of her just wanted to hold him and tell him it would be all right. But she knew she couldn't do that. Sometimes being cruel was the kindest hing to do. He'd lost his eldest brother and his sister-in-law a matter of months after his sister's death. Now she was going to have to make it worse. And somehow, even though all he'd witnessed was a kiss and a bit of hand holding - not that there had been much more than that anyway - she felt he knew it was coming.

He shifted uncomfortably as she sat down next to him. "So what happens now?"

Hermione sighed. "We get a divorce, I suppose."

She saw the last spark of hope die in him. "Have we really come that far?"

She nodded. "I think so. I think it's been coming for years." She saw how deflated he was and knew then what she'd suspected: He was still in love with her. She wished she felt the same but, although she'd been happy in their marriage, she hadn't felt that way about him for a long time. He was her best friend, no more, no less. "I still love you, Ron, but it's not the way a wife should love you." She took a deep breath, knowing the next words would hurt him but knowing she had to be honest. "The way I love Harry."

Ron looked ahead dully. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've gone down in history as Harry Potter's friend. Everything great that I've done is because of him. Only thing I ever managed to do by myself was marry you."

Hermione stared at him in shock. "Ron, you've got two children that adore you! All the time we were locked up, Rose knew you'd come and save us. Not Harry, you. And she was right. You saved us, Ron. Harry and I would both be dead I don't know how many times if it wasn't for you so don't ever talk like you're not worth anything."

Ron looked surprised and grateful at her sudden passion. "What do we do about the kids?"he asked at last.

Hermione shrugged. "They'll still be at Hogwarts most of the time, I guess they can split the holidays between us. You can keep the house, it was your family that helped pay for it anyway."

Ron broached the next subject cautiously. "Will you be living with Harry?"

It was a question she'd asked herself many times. "If he'll have me."

"If he doesn't..?" Ron let the question hang in the air.

"Are you my second choice? That's not fair on either of us. We need to make a clean break." Hermione bit her lip nervously. "Do you…do you think they'll understand? The children?"

Ron gave her a reassuring look. "We'll make them understand."

* * *

><p>Rose and Hugo stood looking at their parents in confusion. Rose looked at Ron. "So, you'll still be living at home?"<p>

Ron nodded. "But without your mum."

Hugo looked at Hermione. "So where will you be living?"

As with when Ron had asked earlier, Hermione found she didn't know the answer. She opened her mouth, desperately hoping she'd think of something to say.

"She'll be living with me,"another voice replied for her.

Hermione turned at the sound. She hadn't realised Harry had entered the room. He gave her a questioning look and she smiled gratefully.

Rose's gaze flicked between the two of them, taking in the look and the implication of what Harry had just said. Finally she looked back at Ron. "I'd like to go back to class now."

"Of course,"Ron agreed.

Rose stalked out, not looking at either Hermione or Harry. After a moment's hesitation, Hugo followed.

Ron looked at Hermione. "They'll come round,"he assured her. "I'll talk to them later." Then he followed their children out, leaving her and Harry alone.

Harry walked over to Hermione, until they were in touching distance. "Did I do the right thing there? I mean, I didn't want to assume anything or make things worse…"

"You did the right thing,"she promised him.

They stood looking at each other for a moment, then they kissed, softly and tentatively but with a depth of feeling that hadn't been there the first two times, both of them giving entirely of themselves to the other. When finally they disengaged, Harry gripped Hermione's hand tightly. "Now we just have to tell _my_ children."

* * *

><p>They'd taken James, Albus and Lily into one of the other classrooms and the three children had sat in silence as they explained the situation. "So, er, any questions?"Harry asked nervously.<p>

Lily spoke. "Is Auntie Hermione our mum now?"

It wasn't a question Harry had been expecting and he didn't know how to respond to it. So he was relieved when Hermione spoke. "No,"she replied. "Your mum will always be your mum, I'll always be Auntie Hermione. But…I will be living with you and your dad, like your mum was."

"Is that all right?"Harry asked.

Albus shrugged. "I guess so." He looked at Lily, who seemed equally unenthusiastic. "We said we'd meet Rose and Hugo."

Harry had a feeling no such meeting had been arranged but could see they wanted to get away. It seemed a lot of people needed space away from him at the moment. "Okay, off you go."

His two younger children scurried out. James got up as well then, to Harry's surprise and delight, he went over to Hermione and hugged her. "Welcome to the family, Aunt Hermione." He turned to Harry. "Congratulations, Dad."

"Thanks, James." Harry tilted his son's head and looked him in the eye.

James was oddly reminded of the way Rookwood had looked at him earlier, when he'd realised who he was. "What is it?"

"You have your mother's eyes,"Harry said softly. He smiled at him gently. "I don't think I've ever noticed that before."

* * *

><p>Harry kept hold of Hermione's hand as they left the classroom. He had visions of them being attacked by a raging mob when people found out what they'd done but it was the two of them now and everyone would have to get used to seeing that.<p>

It was just bad luck that the first people that saw them were the Weasleys.

Harry didn't even know that Arthur and Molly had come to the castle but there they were at the other end of the corridor, with Percy, George and Ron. Molly shot him a look of pure venom. He couldn't blame her. Three of her children had died because they'd trusted him and now he'd broken up the marriage of another one. She was the closest thing he'd ever had to a mother and now she hated him. She ushered her sons away. Harry glanced at their faces. Percy looked awkward, George looked oddly reassuring. Ron was the biggest surprise. There was no anger or hatred in his face. He just gave them a simple nod of acknowledgement.

Arthur hung back as his family left and then approached the pair. Harry braced himself for his father-in-law's anger but instead he glanced back at Molly's retreating back. "She's angry,"he said. "And grieving. She'll come round. You two have been part of our family for a long time, your children are our grandchildren, and that's not going to change."

In a way it was worse than anger could have been. But Harry loved the older man for it. "Thanks, Arthur."

He nodded. "Good luck to you both." He headed off to join his family.

Hermione looked at Harry, gripping his hand even tighter, and smiled. "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>They Apparated into the hallway and headed upstairs, feeling like two awkward teenagers about to have their first time as they fumbled to remove each other's clothes. But when they made love, the awkwardness disappeared, their bodies feeling like they belonged together. Finally, they lay together, exhausted, a feeling of bliss settling over them both.<p>

Harry thought of Ginny, of all the times he'd laid with her in that bed. He had loved her, had married her and raised a family with her, and he knew his feelings for her would never completely disappear, nor did he want them to. But that life was in the past. He loved Hermione and she was his present and his future. And he wasn't going to let her go.

Hermione thought of Ron. She knew she'd been in love with him once but over the years those feelings she'd felt when they were teenagers had changed, becoming something just as strong but different. And as her feelings for Ron had changed, so too had her feelings for Harry, almost without her noticing, until she'd realised he was the one she wanted to be with. Pretending otherwise wouldn't have been fair on any of them.

"Well, at least the gossip columns will be happy now,"Harry commented.

Hermione rolled over onto her front and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Rita Skeeter's been saying we sleep together for years."

Hermione shrugged. "Won't be as much fun now it's true, though. Give it a few weeks and she'll be saying I'm sleeping with Neville or something."

"So long as you're not."

Hermione looked at him seriously. "You're the only person I want to sleep with for the rest of my life."

Harry met her gaze. "I love you,"he told her and realised it was the first time he'd said it to her.

"I love you too,"she replied and kissed him. He pulled her body close to him, both of them feeling they were where they were meant to be.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter and Hermione Weasley were married eighteen months later. Neville Longbottom was best man, James and Albus Potter were groomsmen, Luna Lovegood, Rose Weasley and Lily Potter were bridesmaids and Hugo Weasley was page boy. Hermione's ex-husband, Ronald Weasley, did not attend but his father Arthur and brother George did. Nymphadora Ginevra Potter, the only child the couple had with each other, was born the following year. She was much loved by her older half-siblings, which helped improve their relationship with their former in-laws. The couple were married for forty years until Hermione's death from natural causes. With the permission of her ex-husband, they were both buried in the Weasley family plot, alongside Harry's first wife.<p>

Ronald Weasley never remarried and never fully repaired his friendship with Harry and Hermione, although they remained on civil terms. To the surprise of everyone, including himself, he was elected Minister of Magic in later life. His seven year term of office was notable for the repeal of all remaining legislature discriminating against Muggle-borns.

None of them ever saw Lord Voldemort again.

* * *

><p><strong>All thoughts on the conclusion, and on the story as a whole, most welcome!<strong>


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